Of Tricksters and Interdimensional Travel
by Kitkat0114
Summary: In an attempt to escape his brothers, Gabriel tears a hole into the fabric between worlds and accidentally drags two teen gods out of their universe and into his own.
1. Clash

**A/N: Hello there! This will be a short author's note to provide some background and disclaimers and things, so bear with me. **

**First of all, this is kind of a spin-off of my Supernatural fanfiction, Plan B, but you don't need to read it to enjoy this and events in Plan B are not likely to be mentioned. Second, this was supposed to be a one-shot, and I don't know what happened, but it's already about three chapters long and counting, so grab some snacks!**

**As far as the update schedule is concerned, I shall try to update every other week on Sunday. **

**And finally, disclaimer! I don't own Supernatural or Marvel in any way shape or form.**

**Enjoy!**

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Heaven dissolved into chaos when Gabriel disappeared. Overprotective archangels and admiring lower angels all were in a frenzy to find the 'golden boy' of Heaven. Their Father knew where he had gone, but he would not tell them, only offering the searchers a soft smile when they would ask. He knew where Gabriel was, there was nothing He did not know. Gabriel had run away, the first to rebel, but he would not be the last. He had left during an important meeting requiring all the angels of Heaven to attend; the best time to leave was when the streets of Heaven were empty. He slipped out the 'back door' as it were, completely unnoticed. God stood and watched as Michael barked out orders to find Gabriel, to search everywhere, even in the most unlikely of places.

"Search other _worlds_ if you have to." Michael instructed. His voice firm, but loud with anger. "Find him!" He sent off another group to find the elusive archangel. They had no idea they would find something else entirely.

Meanwhile, in another realm, world, and land entirely, were two brothers where they were not supposed to be. One, pale and thin, with black hair slicked away from his face, sat cross legged with his hands held aloft in front of him. The other, tall and broad, with blonde hair left to fly wild stood behind him, bouncing from foot to foot excitedly. The brother who was sitting bent his fingers ever so slightly in annoyance.

"Thor, would you stop?" He snapped irritably. "It is very hard to concentrate with you bouncing around."

"Sorry, brother!" Thor boomed. He did not sound very sorry, and the other brother was frustrated by that fact alone, but Thor stilled his movements, so he allowed it to slide for the time being. "When will it be done, Loki?" Thor asked, interrupting almost five solid seconds of blissful silence. Loki flinched harshly and snarled at him, causing Thor to deflate like a scolded dog.

Loki sighed, feeling slightly guilty for dampening his brother's excitement, but it couldn't be helped. He needed complete silence and concentration for this task. Opening doors to other realms without the Bifröst, even if they were positioned at the closest point to Yggdrasil, was not easy. Loki still persisted though; his pride and his wish to please Thor were just as stubborn as the walls between worlds. Eventually he felt something, a weak spot in the area he had been working, he cheered inwardly, but was determined not to get too excited.

"Brother! Are you almost there?" Thor asked loudly, jerking Loki out of his delicate work. He readied himself to turn and scold Thor again when the hole he had been working to make suddenly tore open violently and with a bright light. The empty space created by the violent tearing caused a great sucking to occur, pulling Loki, who was closest towards it. Bright, blinding light burst out of the hole just as Loki was being pulled towards it, Thor following close behind even though he was effectively blinded by the light. There was a great screeching noise that pierced their very cores and then suddenly silence and weightlessness as both brothers were pulled into a noiseless void. Then just as suddenly as the silence, they were falling, Thor's screams of mixed terror and excitement piercing the air.

Loki found himself unable to make a sound, both shock and terror effectively gagging him as they plummeted into what looked like a heavily forested area. They did not fall for long, and soon both brothers crashed into the canopy of the forest. Loki found his voice enough to grunt each time a branch hit him on his way through the tops of the trees and to the forest floor. He was thankfully stopped from hitting the ground by a branch and some sort of vined plant tangling his legs together. Thor was not as lucky, and Loki winced when his brother hit the ground face first with a solid _thud, _spraying leaves and dirt and effectively silencing whatever shouting he was making before.

Loki worked at untangling himself, finding the plant that saved him a lot of pain to be some sort of climbing ivy. Suddenly, the plant seemed to have second thoughts about holding Loki aloft and he dropped to the ground on his butt with a puff of air from his lungs. He may not have hit the ground as hard as Thor, but it hurt none-the-less, and it took him a minute before he could get up again. By that time, Thor was thankfully stirring, slowly turning over and sitting up. He let out a couple of rough coughs. He recovered quickly though and was hurrying to Loki's side, who was now fully standing, observing their surroundings.

"Brother, are you unharmed?" Thor shouted, drawing Loki's attention to him. Loki looked at him blankly for a moment, before his expression turned into one of utter rage. He stood quickly, and Thor retreated, his own features morphing into one of confusion.

"What was that?!" Loki shouted. Thor was unsure if his brother was blaming him for the events that just transpired or if he was merely asking, using rage to hide his fear.

Thor put his hands up; as if that would show Loki he was not responsible for what had just transpired. "I don't know!" He exclaimed.

Loki's rage seemed to abate then, yelling at Thor, albeit satisfying, was not helping anything. "Where are we?" He asked.

"I… I don't know." Thor said again. Loki sighed, plopping himself into the dirt and leaves on the forest floor. Such an action should not be considered graceful, but Loki still made it look so. Thor sat down next to him, letting his legs slide out in front of him. He leaned over so that he could see Loki's face, which he had hidden in his hands. "Are you going to find out?" Thor asked curiously. As soon as they knew where they were, the sooner they could explore, as far as he was concerned.

"Of course." Loki said, overly annoyed by Thor's cheerful behavior despite the situation. "Give me a moment." Loki pulled his knees up and folded his legs into a cross legged position. He then placed his hands on his knees and closed his eyes, his mouth making a thin line.

Thor could not see anything happening, but he could feel a sort of vibration about Loki as his magic coursed underneath his skin, closer to the surface now that he was using it. Finally, Loki let out a breath and Thor leant in. "Brother?"

"We are on Midgard…" Loki said, haltingly and breathless. They haven't been to Midgard in at least a couple hundred years, only once with their father when he was showing them the nine realms. "Something is different though…" He continued. He wrapped his arms around himself as if he just caught a chill and Thor moved ever closer, brow furrowed in worry.

"Is something the matter?" Thor asked cautiously. He placed a hand on Loki's shoulder and found him shaking.

"There is much magic here." Loki whispered then. "Something is coming." He said louder, making to stand.

Thor stood with him and they went to swiftly make a retreat, Thor finding that to be the best option, even if it was not in his nature. However, they were suddenly surrounded by at least twenty men, all wearing strange clothes and standing in a stiff manner that the foot soldiers in Asgard stood with. Unlike the foot soldiers on Asgard, however, these men did not bow to the two Princes, instead they stood firm and _glared. _

Thor did not appreciate the looks they were getting, so he spoke up, pulling Loki's small frame close to him as the men closed in on them. "You will show respect to the princes of Asgard!" He said, mimicking the same phrase his father often told people who made fun of Loki or tried to pick fights with Thor. The men looked unimpressed, coming ever closer. "You do not know who you are dealing with." He warned.

"Thor, we need to run." Loki whispered into his ear. Thor shook his head, much to Loki's dismay.

"They have shown us too much disrespect." Thor declared.

Loki scoffed. "Thor, they obviously do not care who we are."

One of the men spoke up, he seemed to be the leader. He had short brown hair that was combed into a strange style neither brother had seen before on Asgard and he wore a strange uniform consisting of a white shirt with a short collar under a buttoned up, black, straight coat. He had tied around his neck, some form of sash that disappeared under the coat, but sat proudly over the shirt, the knot just below the edges of the collar. His trousers were the same color as his coat, loose and straight. Not at all like the leathers Loki and Thor wore. "Who are you?" The man asked, eyes piercing and expression stern. His voice was oddly emotionless though.

"I am Thor." Thor said proudly, standing tall. "And this is my brother, Loki." He motioned towards his brother, who looked at him as if he were insane. "We are the princes of Asgard." He then stated. "Who are you?" He asked in a prideful voice. Loki wanted to disappear at that point. Thor was going to get them killed.

"I am Michael, the general of the armies of Heaven." The man, Michael, said. "Why are you here, _Thor and Loki_?" He spat their names with sarcastic reverence, causing Thor to frown and wrinkle his nose. Loki spoke before he could get them into more trouble, adopting a respectful and diplomatic tone.

"We fell through a tear in the space between the branches of Yggdrisil." Loki said honestly. He was not about to tell them that he was _trying _to make that tear; they didn't need to know that. "We were exploring before the space was ripped open and we were pulled through." He explained. "We do not mean any harm. We will leave as soon as we can."

Thor tugged on his arm and Loki grimaced, resisting the urge to snap. "Loki, I wanted to explore!" He whispered, but not quiet enough for Michael not to hear him.

"This is hardly the time, oaf." Loki snapped back, forgoing attempting to look mature.

Thor wrinkled his nose at that and grabbed a fistful of Loki's cape. "Do not call your older brother such names!" He scolded. Loki folded his arms and turned his back to him.

"I will call you what I wish, you dullard." Loki retorted hotly. Thor's face turned a lovely shade of scarlet before he went to grab Loki by the collar, only to be slapped away and Loki grab his wrist in a firm grip. After that the two of them dissolved into name calling and pulling at each other's clothing.

Michael raised an eyebrow at their bickering and the other men with him cast glances at each other as Thor and Loki exchanged verbal blows. Finally he put an end to their squabble with a firm. "Enough."

Loki stopped, but Thor did not, ignoring Michael in favor of attempting to wrap Loki in his own cape. The result was him tearing a rather large piece off of it before Loki smacked him in the back of the head. Finally they both looked up at him. Michael's entourage of men were whispering, some of them laughing quietly to themselves. Loki frowned to hide his flush of embarrassment.

"Are you human?" Michael asked. Thor and Loki both looked at him incredulously.

"Honestly?" Loki asked. "I would assume that the expenditure of my energy is what called you here. Obviously we are not mortals." He said angrily and insulted.

"We are Æsir!" Thor says, incredulous. Michael looked as if he didn't know what that was and voiced it.

"What is an 'Æsir'?" Michael asked. He looked thoughtful for a moment before leaning over and muttering something to one of the men on his left. The man's eyes widened and he disappeared, causing Loki to jump at the suddenness of it and Thor to react violently, raising a fist.

"What did you do to him?!" Thor demanded. Loki regarded Michael cautiously.

"I have done nothing." Michael stated. "He has gone to ask Father of something." He once again adopted a thoughtful expression before grasping Thor by the arm firmly. "On second thought, you will be coming with me." He demanded.

Thor managed to break from Michael's grip and Loki grabbed him, preparing to make a run for it through the thinner part of their numbers. Loki thrust his hand out in front of them as they ran, sending off a shock wave of magical energy that knocked a few of the men into the earth. It made a big enough space that both Loki and Thor could slip through. Then Thor took over, lifting Loki off the ground and running faster than the smaller brother ever could. Thor was regretting not having taken Mjölnir with him, so he could fly.

Thor distantly heard Loki's squawks of protest and also Michael's shout for pursuit and he sped up, bouncing Loki over his shoulder, so that his arms were free. Loki took advantage of his new position to send flashes of green light off behind them, too jostled to concentrate enough for an illusion. Thor skidded and kicked up dirt when one of the men appeared in front of them, some weird blade in hand and reaching towards them. Thor thought them doomed until there was another, sudden, blinding light that caused Loki to shout. The man stumbled back and suddenly both Thor and Loki were caught up in a great wind. Thor found himself consumed by dizzying vertigo and Loki became oddly silent, presumably passed out. Then he was falling again and screaming and then landing in a body of water and then it was silent.

The Big Meeting was the day Gabriel was going to escape. Oh yeah! There was no way that this could go wrong. All his brothers would be distracted and they wouldn't notice he was gone until he was long gone. Except, it did go wrong and somehow one of the more bratty angels, what was his name? Uriel? Whatever. One of the brattier angels that had skipped the meeting had snitched on him to Raphael, who then told Michael, who then scattered the angels across Heaven and Earth searching for him before he could grab any good cover. It was at that point that he decided to go hide out on a different Earth. It wasn't that hard to open a bridge. Of course he wasn't supposed to know how, but it wasn't like anyone would know. He was searching for a good place to open a hole when he found a weak spot in the wall between worlds, a perfect place for him to just break on through. That plan quickly went down the drain too, as apparently creating paths to other worlds lets off quite a bit of energy. No sooner had he opened the portal, were the armies of Heaven upon him. He quickly escaped, but not before pulling two somethings along with him.

At first, when he had escaped, he planned to use the distraction of the hole to provide him time to make a place for himself on earth. He was, however, drawn to the two somethings he'd accidentally pulled through the hole. He followed them as they fell through the air, one screaming the whole way and the other seemingly too afraid to scream. They both looked to be human, probably adolescents, one was broad with blonde hair and the other had black hair and was much thinner. They both wore some kind of weird ass armor and capes that fluttered behind them ridiculously as they fell. He followed them until they crashed through the forest, effectively losing sight of them as they disappeared into the green of the tree tops. He was going to follow them down, but he sensed Michael coming and thought better of it. He'd keep his distance and watch.

He managed to find a good place to conceal himself just as Michael found the two poor kids he'd dragged through. They both looked a little worse for wear from the fall, and Michael was now talking to them, thoroughly antagonizing the blonde one. Michael, always the diplomatic one, except not.

He chuckled as the blonde one ranted, demanding respect. 'Yeah right.' He thought. He soon learned that their names were Thor and Loki. Well now, that sounded strangely familiar. But from where? Upon deeper thought, it came to him. Yup, he definitely recognized those names. They were gods, straight out of Norse Myth. Michael didn't seem to catch on though, staring at them blankly. Gabriel didn't expect him to. Gabriel was the one that found books and read books and wrote books, Michael was more of a soldier.

Speaking of books, the book he had read about Thor and Loki had appeared out of nowhere on a shelf in the library. Seriously, one day it wasn't there and the next day it was, so of course he had to read it. From what he could remember, Thor and Loki were the sons of Odin, who was effectively, the Norse version of his Dad. That book was fictional though, it said so on the front cover. Thor and Loki were, if anything, demigods that Vikings liked to worship when they got a little too sloshed, so why were they in the form of two weird teenagers in armor and capes arguing with his brother after falling through a portal? He shrugged inwardly. He'd find out later, because now 'Thor and Loki' were making a break for it through Michael's soldiers. The Loki kid let off some kind of powerful green force that knocked the angels off their feet and onto their asses in the dirt and then Thor was carrying him as he ran at breakneck speed through the trees. Loki screamed the whole way, demanding to be put down and unhanded and "Brother, you will release me this instant if you do not want to be castrated!" even as he shot off more blasts of green energy at their pursuers. His brothers seemed woefully unprepared for this kind of energy, which made Gabriel all the more curious.

Gabriel followed, there was no way they were going to get away, and if Michael caught them, then Gabriel would never fully know what kind of mess he'd made. Plus, imagine how pissed Michael would be when he realized Gabriel just snatched away his targets. He waited until one of the men flew in front of the two before he dashed in, making a big flashy show and scaring the crap out of the two teen gods. He then snatched both Thor and Loki up to fly. He could hear Michael shouting at him to "Get back here right now or you're in trouble!" He rolled his eyes; he was in trouble either way, so why not make the most of it?

Thor was screaming now, and squirming, and carrying him was getting really difficult because the dude weighed a ton, he really only needed one to get their story, so he dropped him. Oops? Probably not. He made sure to drop him over a pond though, so no harm done.

The other one, Loki, didn't seem to notice Thor's absence, still silent with fear radiating off of him like he was being carried off to the slaughter rather than to a remote place in Alaska. Finally, he touched down in the middle of a frozen lake about thirty miles from any civilization. It took longer than usual because of the amount of twisting a swerving and detours he had to take to shake Michael. Hopefully they wouldn't grab Thor, but if they did, oh well. He only needed one. He dropped Loki unceremoniously on the ice, who let out a string of curses in some kind of foreign language he didn't recognize. He was about to zap off to go grab a vessel, since obviously neither Thor or Loki could see him when he didn't have one, but realized the kid might try to leave if he did. He decided to leave the kid a message before he left, chuckling at the image of his frightened face.

Loki was really not having a good day, now stuck in the middle of a frozen lake somewhere very cold and very desolate. Had the light transported him to Jotunheim? He knew the light had intended to drop him here, since it left a very clear message about what it wanted him to do in the form of dozens of cracks throughout the ice of the lake that in some areas spelled "don't move." He followed their advice, wrapping his cape around himself and curling up against the frozen wind. As the sun ducked behind the horizon, the already frozen atmosphere got that much colder and as a result, quite a bit more depressing. He had no idea where Thor was and he'd been sitting out on the ice for who knows how long. If he'd been younger he would have started crying as soon as the first gust of frozen wind cut through him. Luckily, Loki was a lot stronger than that now. If anyone saw, they would surly mock him for it. Eventually, he unhooked his cape from the place it connected to his armor and pulled the fabric over his head, protecting himself from the cold wind. And then he felt it, that same presence he felt just before that strange man Michael appeared; only it was different. It felt a bit more like the light.

It was truly unsettling how the people in this realm appeared. Suddenly they were not there, and then they were. It frightened Loki every time, though he'd never admit it. The being that appeared in front of him this time was a man with an expressive face and honey colored hair and eyes. His lips were twisted upward into a cocky grin and he stood in front of Loki proudly. Loki frowned at him, ever defiant.

"Who are you?" Loki asked, he did his best to keep his voice from shaking, but it happened anyway. It was very cold out on the frozen lake, though Loki had always been rather resistant. The being did not need to know that. "Are you the one that stranded me here?!" He asked when the man continued to stare at him.

"Sorry. I forgot that people get cold." The man said simply. He walked forward and reached a hand out for Loki, which he dodged. As a result, Loki stumbled back and with a loud sickening crack, the ice gave way beneath him and he was immediately immersed in ice cold water. He could hear the man curse above him and a splash as he lunged after him. He vaguely saw the man reaching for him underneath the water and then the water was gone, and he was moving through the air at dizzying speeds that made him equal parts curious and nauseated. He was dropped somewhere warm, this time face first into a heap and the shock from the sudden change in temperatures kept him there. He saw the feet of his _what should he call this person? Kidnapper? _He saw the feet of his kidnapper standing in front of him. The right foot tapped twice before he spoke. "Are you going to get up?" He asked in annoyance. Loki just glared at him.

The figure kneeled in front of him. "Yo, I thought you were supposed to be a god or something." He stated, sounding disappointed. "Where's all the strength and rage?" He asked. Loki found himself very full of rage at that point, and surreptitiously placed a hand on the ground next to his kidnapper's feet. Before the kidnapper could ask what he was doing, he used his magic to shatter the earth, the dust swallowing the kidnapper as he made an odd screeching noise. Taking advantaged of his distraction, Loki staggered to his feet, still feeling numb and achy from the temperature change and dashed away from him. He continued to run through a forested area until he reached a break between the trees and a long, wide, black path. He placed his foot on it experimentally and found it to be sturdy. It was black, like tar, but his foot did not stick to it when he walked on it. Perhaps this path led somewhere? He had no other options, so he followed it.

Loki walked for a long time, relieved that his kidnapper had not caught up to him. He secretly hoped he had killed him somehow, then he would no longer be a problem. He continued walking and after a while, Loki heard a long, monotonous roaring noise that was coming from behind him and gaining in volume. He looked behind himself to see a large, metallic looking monstrosity heading straight towards him. It really wasn't that big, but it was loud and fast and Loki found himself immediately afraid of it. It continued to come towards him and started to emit a horrible continuous wailing sound. Loki jumped out of the way just in time to have it speed past him. He heard someone curse and as the vehicle sped away, he could see someone stick their hand out the window and gesture at him. There was a person inside of that contraption!

When he was finished marveling at the new machine, Loki continued walking, albeit a bit closer to the side of the path. He wondered where his kidnapper had taken Thor and if he should go back for him. Deciding against that, Loki then moved on to have his own private pity party. Why did these things always happen to him? On almost every so called 'adventure' he went on with Thor, he was either injured or left behind in some sorry excuse for a prank. This current development was a nice change in pace, though. At least Thor hadn't left him for being too slow or disagreeable.

Eventually, he found himself approaching a city, the machines that passed him on the road became more frequent, and he could hear the distant sound of even more of them. He moved farther onto the side of the road to accommodate their growing number and soon found himself walking on the dusty shoulder of the path. He spared a glance at the great city before him then and found that it looked similar to Asgard, only instead of gold, it was different earthy shades of gray and brown. About the city hung a dark gray cloud. Loki wrinkled his nose, so that's why it stunk so. One of the machines emitted another loud wailing sound, only this time it was shorter and it jerked Loki out of his thoughts. He turned his head to look at the machine. There was a man inside, with a short beard and mustache and weird, poofy hair that was cut at the nape of his neck. He also had some sort of strange, tinted lenses over his eyes.

"Hey kid, do you need a ride?" The man asked, leaning himself out the window, he flicked his lenses down and examined Loki over the top of them. Loki shook his head and backed away, not realizing how very close he was to the side of the machine. The man smiled warmly, but it really turned into a leer in Loki's eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you." He assured. Loki furrowed his brow and turned away, but then heard a pop. The door to the machine was now ajar. Loki looked up at the man and then back at the door. "Climb in, I'll give you a ride." He said invitingly.

Loki shook himself, as fascinating as the machine was, he would not allow himself to become a victim for Thor to save. "No." he insisted. He turned and continued walking down the road. To his intense dismay, the man followed him with the machine, keeping it rolling along at his pace. He turned and twisted his face into his best sneer. "Leave me alone." He demanded harshly. The man whistled for some odd reason.

"Boy, you have an attitude on you, don't you?" He said. Loki frowned and hunched his shoulders, trying to close himself off from the man. "Hey, hey, don't be like that." He sped ahead of Loki and stopped the machine a little ahead of Loki's path.

The man opened the door to the machine and quickly got out. Loki stopped where he stood and watched the man approach him with an outstretched hand and a jovial smile. "I'm Howard Stark." The man said when he was within a few feet of Loki. "I'm a science fiction writer." He explained.

Loki had no idea what this 'science fiction' business was, but he wanted no part of it. He turned to leave, opting to just ignore the overly friendly Howard Stark. "Wait!" The man in question yelped, then grabbed Loki's shoulder. "I want to talk to you!" He said.

"Why should I speak to you?" Loki demanded, wrenching his shoulder out of the man's grasp. "Do you know who I am?!" He found himself hissing.

"You look exactly the way I envisioned one of my characters!" Howard said enthusiastically. He smiled. "I thought you were a fan of mine, but obviously not. Anyway, why don't you hop in? I'll give you a ride. Wherever you want to go!" He bargained.

Loki shook his head firmly. "No. I have no time for you." The man's smile faltered and he floundered desperately.

"This guy giving you trouble?" A familiar voice asked from behind them. Loki turned to see his kidnapper standing there, smirking. He approached casually, hand in his pockets.

"Do you know him?" Howard asked, looking suspiciously at the newcomer.

"He's my kidnapper." Loki replied lamely. At that moment, the kidnapper was upon them and had a needlessly tight grip on Loki's shoulder.

"Hey! Let him go!" Howard demanded angrily, trying to pry his hand off Loki's shoulder. "You aren't taking no kid! Not while I'm around!" He yelled, scrabbling at the kidnapper's arm. The man smiled at him, soft and angelic, but then the expression morphed into a sneer.

"Do not touch me." The kidnapper said softly and dangerously. Howard found himself letting go automatically.

"Now… Loki, let's get going. I have some questions to ask you." He said dangerously, tightening his grip on Loki's shoulder before they both disappeared. Howard Stark was left alone, standing on the side of the road, having just met a character straight out of his books. When he returned to his car, he stared out of the front window distantly.

"Loki…" He whispered, running a hand over his chin. "I am so telling Steve about this when I see him!"

Thor hoisted himself out of the body of water he had been tossed into, falling heavily on the shore and panting loudly. His armor was not made for buoyancy, a fact that proved to be his downfall. He sat up, instantly noticing that Loki was not on the shore with him. "Loki?" He called. When he got no reply he removed his armor and dived back into the water. He spent about an hour diving and coming back up for air, shouting Loki's name and diving again. He didn't find Loki, above or below water, so the fiend that had grabbed them must have taken him. He gathered his armor and put it on again before rashly dashing into the surrounding forests.

"Loki!" He called once he had made sufficient progress into forest. His voice merely echoed off the trees. "Loki?!" He called again running through to a clearing. "Are you here, brother?!" He called loudly. He heard rustling and turned to see a very familiar man making his way through the forest. The very man who had tried to abduct him and his brother, Michael. Thor growled and readied himself for a battle.

"Calm yourself." Michael scolding, holding up his hands in a gesture of peace. Thor would not be fooled.

"Where is Loki? Have you taken him?" Thor demanded. "If I find that you have hurt him in any way, I will—" he was cut off by Michael.

"Please. Do what?" Michael asked. He was not mocking, just matter of fact. It irritated Thor greatly. "Besides that, we have not taken your brother, but we have an idea as to who has."

Thor's eyes widened. "Who? Tell me!" He stepped forward towards Michael threateningly. Michael did not move.

"I believe my brother has taken him. As to what purpose, I do not know." Michael explained, regarding Thor with cold eyes. "If you cooperate with us, we may both benefit." He proffered a hand to Thor. "Have we a deal?"

"Deal?" Thor glared at the offered hand, but grudgingly took it firmly. "I believe we do." As soon as he said those words he was caught up once again in a great gust of wind and soon he found himself in a handsomely decorated room, red and dark wood furniture with gold accents and several paintings upon the walls.

"Please sit, Thor." Michael prompted from his position behind a large dark desk. As soon as he complied, Michael smiled. Thor could not discern the nature of it. "Tell me about your brother and I will tell you about mine."

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**TBC...**

**As always, be sure to review and tell me what you think! The first couple of chapters are always the most nerve wracking for me, so I want to know if you like it.**

**Also, this is a really complex universe I've thought up, so if you have any questions and the answers aren't spoilery, I'll try to answer them and I'll clarify anything that may be super confusing at the beginning of the chapters. **


	2. Milkshake Interrogation

**A/N: I actually managed to update on time! I'm pretty proud of myself. **

**Thank you all for your reviews, follows and favorites**

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Loki found himself suddenly, startlingly, standing outside a strange metal building after another brief spell of vertigo. His kidnapper's hand was firmly on his shoulder, and he was led inside like a disobedient child. Needless to say, it irritated him. He kept quiet, however. The best course of action would be to see what his captor wanted and talk his way out of the situation. Then go and find Thor.

"Table for two, ma'am!" Loki's kidnapper said. He flashed a petite woman in a strange dress a smile that would put Thor's to shame. She wondered over to them, swinging her hips all the way, led them to a seat and parted from them, but not before shooting a lusty gaze at Loki's captor. Loki wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Alright, kid. Story time." the kidnapper prompted when the woman had left.

"Excuse me?" Loki asked simply. If this man wanted stories, he should have visited the library, not kidnapped a prince.

"Spill it. Who are you? What's your story?" the kidnapper prompted again. "I'm dying of curiosity here!" he continued exuberantly.

For once, Loki was at a loss for words. He stared at his kidnapper blankly for a few seconds while he found his tongue. "You want to know about me?" Loki asked, mostly for conformation.

"Yeah! Not just that though. Where're you from? I pulled you out of another dimension, I think, so I wanna know the details!" the man was talking much too loud for Loki's liking and was drawing much too much attention to them.

"I will you tell you what I know, but perhaps you should lower your voice." Loki hissed as he leaned in. After a pause, he continued. "And perhaps you should tell me your name. It is only fair."

His kidnapper wrinkled his nose in distaste. Loki wasn't surprised, he tended to have that effect on people. "Why do you need to know my name?" the kidnapper broached the question casually, but it was obvious that he was hesitant to reveal the information. Loki decided it was necessary that he know the man's name, then.

"I can hardly keep addressing you as my 'kidnapper,' can I?" Loki announced loudly, drawing the attention of the patrons. If this place was anything like Asgard, then kidnapping someone, especially a prince was most certainly a crime. "Regardless of that, you shall have no information out of me until you give me your name." he finished testily.

The man put his hands up in surrender. "Fine, fine." He acquiesced. "The name's Gabriel."

"And I am Loki." Loki replied. At that point, the woman returned and asked what their order was. Gabriel ordered two 'milkshakes' and then winked, much to Loki's disgust. The woman then scurried off again.

"What is a milkshake?" Loki asked, letting the odd word roll around in his mouth before pronouncing it.

"You first." Gabriel shot back quickly. "Where are you from?" he asked, smirking again.

So that was how he was going to play this? Fine. "I am from Asgard. What is a milkshake?" Loki said cheekily, returning Gabriel's smirk with a smooth smile of his own.

"Don't be an ass." Gabriel admonished. Loki's smile only widened, relishing in the way Gabriel's smirk disappeared in annoyance. "A milkshake's good. You'll like it." Loki didn't let his smile falter any, but his fist did tighten marginally where it rested on the table. "What's Asgard?" Gabriel asked.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, you are going to be more specific than that." he huffed.

"Alright…" Gabriel trailed off in thought. "Who are you to Asgard?" he asked, finally.

"I am a mage." Loki replied without missing a beat. The old lie he often told, smooth as cream. "A mage of the royal court."

"Right..." Gabriel said, disbelieving. Loki tried not to let the surprise show on his face. "I heard your brother's spiel in the forest earlier. You're a prince." he said decisively. Loki frowned, looking at the silver cutlery arranged on the table. Of course Thor would ruin his plan before it even started. And besides that, why did Gabriel ask if he already knew? "No lying. I get to ask another question."

"What?" Loki demanded, a bit of the petulant teenager his mother always accused him of being leaking through.

"Them's the rules. Maybe you'll tell the truth next time." Gabriel scolded with a smirk.

"I did not agree to this." Loki shouted, standing from his spot on the table. "I—" he found himself being pushed back into his seat by an invisible force. Gabriel was frowning at him, one eyebrow raised.

"You'll sit your butt down and wait for your milkshake while we talk." Gabriel finished for him. "You were being ornery, so I was trying to play nice, but now you'll answer my questions. Capiche?"

Loki crossed his arms and settled himself farther back in his seat. When the time was right, Gabriel would regret this. Loki would be sure of it. "Very well. Though I don't know what I could possibly tell you. You know so much about me already." he spat.

"Shut up, princess." Gabriel advised. Loki supposed the name was supposed to be an insult. "Who's Thor?"

"A prince. I thought you heard him speaking earlier? Or are you so dull that you have forgotten?" Loki said smoothly.

"If you don't start playing nice, I'm going to drink your milkshake." Gabriel threatened.

"What possible use do you have for this information?" Loki asked angrily.

"I told you!" Gabriel said, pointing at Loki. "I'm curious. I ripped a hole through time and space for Dad's sake, I want to know all the details." he explained. "You look like a smart guy, Lokes. You should understand."

Admittedly, Loki was as curious as Gabriel appeared to be. However, he wasn't about to let him know that, especially after that horrendous butchering of his name. No, he would toy with him for a while and get his answers in his own way. Loki licked his lips, readying his silver tongue.

"Oh, I do understand." Loki said, pausing when the woman returned with their milkshakes. He pulled his glass over to him and observed it wearily; Gabriel cocked an eyebrow at him. He took a sip and found that this 'milkshake' was very much to his liking. "I know only as much as you do. My brother and I were merely exploring before you pulled us here." he lied.

"You sure about that?" Gabriel asked. Loki cocked his head in feigned confusion. "Because there was already a weak spot when I came to break through." He observed Loki over the rim of his milkshake. "Are you sure you were just 'exploring'?"

Loki kept his expression neutral for a moment, thinking. Gabriel didn't wait for a reply.

"And what was that fancy power you used to blast my brothers away?" Gabriel continued on, listing questions off on a whim. "And when you smashed the earth? You don't look that strong there, Loki Dokie."

"Enough with the names." Loki snapped. Gabriel smirked.

"Don't like my nicknames there, Loki-nator, Loki Poki, Loki Loco…" Gabriel trailed off after Loki's face went from pale to crimson in rage.

"I have never met a creature as infuriating as you." Loki growled, turning his attention to his milkshake. Forget toying with this man, he was going to kill him.

"Why thank you, Loki artichokie." Gabriel replied proudly. "It's one of my best qualities." Loki huffed out a sigh.

"I'm going to end you." Loki promised. Gabriel did not seem very frightened.

Gabriel did eventually get him to speak, albeit grudgingly, about his home, his position in life and then finally about magic. That was the most intriguing for the infuriating being, and he continued to ask Loki question after question.

"So you used magic to weaken the walls between worlds, huh? Why?" Gabriel said. He had already finished his milkshake and was now working a large piece of pie. Loki had his own, but he merely pushed it around on his plate, not entirely hungry after such a large, sweet drink.

"Thor wanted a new place to explore and we are not allowed to use the Bifrost without Father's permission." Loki replied matter-of-factly. "If I didn't want Thor to whine at me all day, I had to at least attempt it."

"So Thor's more the troublemaker I take it?" Gabriel then asked. Loki was surprised about the change in topic.

"Hardly. He is… How did Mother put it… Adventurous?" Loki trailed off, pushing fruit from his pie into its own pile separate from the crust. "Impulsive is a more accurate term, I believe." He then looked up from his pie to give Gabriel a grin. "I am the troublemaker. They call me the Trickster and a snake." He was proud of these names, despite popular belief, and made the fact known to Gabriel.

"And that, Loki dearest, is what we have in common." Gabriel announced out of the blue. "Though my brothers don't call me a snake, that's Lucifer's gig."

"How many brothers do you have?" Loki asked, suddenly struck with curiosity. Gabriel laughed, long, hard and loud at that. Loki failed to see what was so funny about his question and furrowed his brow. "I do not see what is so funny…"

"No, no. Yeah, sorry." Gabriel wheezed, holding his stomach. "Sorry. I've got more brothers than there are stars in the sky." He finally explained.

Loki looked at him with wide-eyes for a long while. "That sounds dreadful." he finally said. Gabriel laughed even harder.

"Oh, it is." Gabriel assured. "Luckily I only really have to deal with three… Well, two of them now."

"And who are they?" Loki asked curiously. "Who takes care of the others?"

"Michael and Raphael are the two that I talked to the most. We're all archangels and we're kind of in charge of the other angels when Dad's not around." Gabriel explained. "Michael's turned us into more of a military than a family, it's sad, but it's the way things are."

"Michael is the man we encountered in the forest." Loki informed Gabriel. "He is an archangel then?"

Gabriel laughed humorlessly. "Yeah, the general of the armies of Heaven, he's got a hell of a stick up his ass."

"That can't be comfortable." Loki commented. Gabriel stared at him blankly for a few moments.

"You're like Castiel with a sass-tastic filling, you know that?" Gabriel said, sounding scolding. Loki furrowed his brow. What was sass?

"Who is Castiel?" Loki asked instead.

"My bro! He's my favorite of the fledglings!" Gabriel said happily. "There's also Balthazar, he's starting to lose his downy feathers." He began rambling about many more angels, mostly fledglings and newborns and named off more angels than Loki ever thought he could remember. He spoke excitedly and animatedly, radiating happiness. He was like Thor describing one of their adventures. It made a question tug at him, a terribly personal question.

"Why did you leave?" Loki then asked. Gabriel winced; apparently he'd struck a chord. Loki would never admit that he felt bad.

"Michael's… Michael's preparing everyone for some great war against Luci." Gabriel began. "It's going to start in a few decades… I don't want to be a part of it." He said, looking away, pie forgotten.

"Ah…" Loki said, awkwardly turning his attention to his own pastry. "I apologize for asking."

"Nah." Gabriel made a brushing motion with his hand, as if dismissing the subject. "Back to you, Loki. How many brothers do _you_ have." He pointed his fork at Loki.

Loki grinned. "Oh, just one." he assured. Whether or not he had more was none of Gabriel's business. "Speaking of which, if we are done here, I would very much like to go and find him."

"I'm calling BS on you having only one brother, you're too bratty." Gabriel commented. "As for Thor, Michael probably has him and there is no way I'm helping you get him back." he said, placing his fork back in his plate and motioning for the waitress.

Loki struggled to keep his tempter in check, but was finding it increasingly difficult, especially as Gabriel, no, his kidnapper and captor casually interacted with the waitress. Gabriel had pulled them through, he kidnapped himself and Thor. He allowed Thor to fall into the hands of the enemy. And he was going to just leave Loki to rescue Thor against a horde of enemies that outnumbered the stars? Despite his careful control, Loki could feel the magic drifting closer to the surface of his skin, reacting to his anger and betrayal. He could also feel the residual magic from the area around them gathering towards him. Loki was stronger in this world; he could use this to his advantage.

"You will help me." Loki said quietly, menacingly. Gabriel looked over from where he was interacting with the waitress. She scurried away to his dismay, but luckily he seemed to notice the importance of the situation and didn't comment on it.

"Hey… Lokes… Wait a second." Gabriel attempted to placate. Loki could see his own hands glowing a soft green, just underneath his skin. "You don't know what kind of power you're messing with, Loki. It's different."

"I can still control it." Loki stated, flexing his fingers against the table and causing small cracks to spiral across its glass surface.

"Yeah, but it's not like Yggdrasil's magic. It's malevolent, whatever control you have, you'll lose eventually." Gabriel was standing now. Loki didn't notice, too absorbed in the new power coursing through his veins. He didn't need to control it long, just long enough to coerce Gabriel into giving him the information he needed to save his brother. Then he'd let it go. Gabriel interrupted his thoughts. "Loki, I know what you're thinking." He began.

"Do you?" Loki spat harshly. He dimly noticed the area around them shaking, people fled underneath tables or into doorways for shelter. "Or are you merely afraid?" he asked, glee dancing in his eyes. "You thought you could control me, didn't you? But you cannot. Nobody can, not with this power." He shattered the table top, mostly by accident, but it seemed to make his point, as Gabriel looked stricken.

"Look, kid, I like you. Don't make me kill you." Gabriel threatened. Loki threw his head back and laughed.

"You can't kill me." Loki stated, standing from his seat. To his dismay, however, Gabriel did not back down, he stood his ground, mouth set in a firm line and eyes hard.

"I can. I've gone toe to toe with things way more powerful than you." Gabriel challenged. Loki frowned. "Besides, you can't even control it." He smirked. "How are you going to narrow it down enough to kill me?"

"I'll just destroy everything around you." Loki said, crossing his arms. He was giddy with power and a smile slid onto his face without him really meaning for it. The smile soon faded, however, when he felt a hard pulse of the power through him, causing his heart to hammer in his chest. He put a hand over it and looked at Gabriel. His expression was one of confusion and… concern? Perhaps he did 'like' Loki, as he put it. Fear compelled him to play off of that. "Gabr—" He voicelessly collapsed into his seat as he was hit with a wave of pain. He dimly felt Gabriel rushing over to him.

"Okay… See? I warned you." Gabriel said, flustered. He felt a hand on his chest. "Bear with me, you moron, this is going to hurt. Not that you don't deserve it." Unable to speak, Loki gasped as he felt Gabriel's other hand move to his forehead and then a great rushing, as if Gabriel was siphoning his being. Everything washed white and he felt a great amount of pain before he felt nothing at all.

Thor was beginning to tell Michael what he knew of magic when the archangel's startling stare moved from his blue eyes to the ceiling. They remained there for a moment, before he closed them and sighed. He turned back to Thor. "It seems your brother and Gabriel have caused a commotion at a diner in Louisiana." he informed.

Thor forwent his questions of 'what is a diner?' and 'Louisiana?' for the more pressing matter. "Commotion?" He asked, Michael nodded.

"From what the others can gather, Loki siphoned magic from within the Earth." Michael began, but Thor cut him off before he could finish.

"Then he must have been in some kind of danger, we must go to him!" Thor shouted, standing. Michael put a hand up, and Thor found himself forced back into the chair. "Release me!"

"I will, but first you must listen to me." Michael said calmly. "Your brother and Gabriel have already fled from the diner and the others cannot find them. Though it is apparent that Gabriel has no intention of letting your brother go. We should act in accordance to that." he stated. "Gabriel has found a way to hide himself from our eyes, but Loki should be plain to see. Is there anything you can tell us about him that will aid in our search?"

"I have told you my brother is a magic user?" Thor asked. Michael nodded, leaning in. "He seemed perturbed by the magic of this world when he encountered it. This leads me to think that perhaps the magic of my brother and this world are different." he said, following through with his thoughts. Loki would be proud, very proud of his reasoning. Thor would tell him about it when he found him.

"It is not certain, but it is something to consider." Michael pondered, looking rather pleased. "I will tell the angels to examine the magic at the site and we will move on from there." An angel appeared in the room at that point with a stiff bow and Michael talked to him in a strange language. Afterwards, the angel disappeared and Michael turned to Thor. "Now then, tell me more about the magic of your world." he said politely. Thor was happy to oblige.

Extracting the magic from Loki was not a long process, but it sure was a destructive one. He'd managed to break out every window of the diner and any car within a five mile radius. Luckily, most of the people had fled before he even began the process, quickly figuring out that either Loki or Gabriel were the cause of all the shaking, so it didn't seem as if anyone had been harmed. Gabriel could only thank his Father for that. Now he had an unconscious god-brat slung over his shoulder that he couldn't help but worry about, and he was on the run from about a hundred of his brothers. At least Loki was being still.

Speaking of Loki, that kid succumbed to the Earth's magic way too fast. Before Gabriel could even think to warn him, Loki was corrupted by the ancient, evil magic he'd accidentally called on. It wasn't technically his fault, all creatures that used magic to that degree went bad eventually, but Loki had set a new record. Gabriel couldn't help, but be worried.

He touched down in New Mexico outside a small, beat up looking motel and quickly stole a room. He didn't bother checking in; nobody would be visiting this run-down place anyway. He dropped Loki onto the bed, leaving him as a messy pile of limbs and mussed hair and began drawing sigils throughout the room. It only took him about ten minutes, and he returned to Loki afterwards, trying to rouse him. After a few shakes, Loki began to show signs of stirring and weakly batted Gabriel's hand away.

"Mmph… Thor… I tol' you. Not 'til 'morrow." Loki slurred, rolling over. Gabriel gave up trying to wake the kid up gently and slapped him across the face. Loki's eyes snapped open immediately, but unfortunately uncomprehendingly and he gave a yelp of surprise. "Fandral, you scoundrel! You dare attack me while I sleep?!" He shouted, hopping from his position on the bed and pointing a palm in Gabriel's direction. Weak green sparks grew in the middle, but soon fizzled out, as did Loki's distress. "Gabriel…?"

"Yup! Who's Fandral? He sounds nice." Gabriel asked conversationally. Loki looked embarrassed for a moment before huffing out a sigh.

"One of the warriors' three and Thor's companion." Loki explained, sitting down onto the bed. "He is nice, if you are of the female persuasion." He coughed and put a hand to his chest. "I feel dreadful." he stated absently.

"That's what you get for siphoning magic you don't understand, idiot." Gabriel scolded. Loki looked indignant at the nickname, but Gabriel couldn't care less. "That magic got to you way too fast, you know that?" he asked. Loki did not look surprised, just guilty.

"I know. Mother has warned me about this. I was foolish." Loki said, looking at his feet. "I have a predisposition for corruption, both my mother and my tutors have told me so." he explained.

"Oh…" Gabriel said. "That makes sense." He really didn't want to open that can of worms. Loki had issues, end of story. He noticed the kid was starting to slump to the side, eyes drooping. Before he could fall all the way over, Gabriel caught him by the shoulder. "Woah, there! What's up?"

"I… I'm very tired, Gabriel." Loki stated breathlessly. He turned his eyes up to Gabriel for the archangel to see that they were glazed over.

"Yeah, go ahead and sleep. They won't find us here for a while." Gabriel said. With that, Loki slumped over and was asleep again. "For Dad's sake, what have I gotten myself into?" Gabriel muttered, summoning himself a few candy bars and settling down to play bedside vigil. After about a half hour, he was pretty sure that a train crashing into the room would not wake Loki, so he flicked on the radio in the room, to hear a news broadcast about the diner that they had effectively destroyed. Apparently there had been no casualties, so Gabriel chalked that up for a win. He lazily listened to the radio play, cycling through the local news, then news about the world as a whole. Apparently the humans were in another war. What else was new?

Loki rolled over in his sleep and curled into a ball, mumbling something about not being hungry before settling again. The radio news seemed to end and some sort of story began playing, something about a detective solving a murder. He listened to it for a while before the radio began experiencing some sort of disturbance, he started to hear the familiar words of his brethren floating through the airwaves, but it was far from comforting. Since he had cut himself off from them, his brothers were sending out messages through the human communication systems to find him. He felt sorry for anyone unfortunate enough to be listening right now. Loki didn't seem to be effected, still sleeping on, but Gabriel was starting to get tired of the multitude of voices begging him to come home. With a slight fluctuation of his grace, he broke the radio. Its message fizzled out with a loud puff of static and a mechanical hiss.

Loki woke then, flinging himself out of the bed. "What was that noise?" he demanded, looking to Gabriel and then looking away towards the door. He was slightly hunched over, probably still in pain, and his breath was harsh and rapid.

"Calm down, Lokes, I just broke the radio." Gabriel assured. He motioned towards the device that was now silently smoking. Loki seemed to understand and sagged slightly, calming his breathing. After a few moments, he straightened. "How are you feeling."

"Better." Loki replied tightly, but didn't elaborate.

"'Better' my ass." Gabriel said, standing from his place on the bed. Loki's brows furrowed in confusion.

"What has your…?" Loki trailed off, but seemed to discard the question. Gabriel rose an eyebrow, silently calling Loki out on his lie. Loki frowned and sat primly on the bed. "Very well. I feel terrible." he stated matter-of-factly. "There is nothing you or I can do, so I didn't see the point and saying so." He rubbed at his chest absently.

"You don't know that." Gabriel said, standing and making his way over to Loki. "Let me see." He plopped himself next to Loki, who gave him a sidelong glance, still rubbing his chest. "Come on, princess." Gabriel goaded. Loki lowered his hand and turned to face him fully.

"Fine." Loki said. His tone betrayed his disbelief. Gabriel would soon fix that.

Gabriel placed two fingers to Loki's forehead first, experimentally sent a shock of grace through Loki's system, checking for any abnormalities. To his surprise, Loki flinched away, glaring at him. "Calm down, Lokes, I'm just looking around." Gabriel assured. Loki relaxed, albeit hesitantly, and allowed Gabriel to resume his examination. Gabriel placed his entire hand on Loki's forehead then and put a hand behind his head to keep him from flinching away, wondered why he was trying so hard for this kid, and sent another wave of grace through him. Loki had the basic make-up of a human, all the right parts in all the right places, but just below that he found a core, nestled around Loki's soul that pulsed in time with his heartbeat.

"That is my magic." Loki said, jerking Gabriel out of his amazement. The kid had his eyes closed and his breathing was much calmer than before. "I take it you have never seen this before." he stated, a small smirk on his lips.

"Nope! Here, you've either got a soul or grace. Magic is sort of an outside thing you have to channel." Gabriel explained.

"Despite your attitude, you are actually quite knowledgeable." Loki said, opening his eyes and quirking an eyebrow. It earned him a smack to the back of the head.

"And you're an idiot." Gabriel snapped. Loki grinned.

"You are so easy." Loki laughed. "Yet you never fall for any of my lies." he seemed thoughtful. "Is that a power of yours?"

"Nah, when you live with Michael and Raphael for an eternity, you tend to learn the smell of bull shit." Gabriel said easily. He had moved from Loki's core to his flesh, looking for nicks the power may have caused on the way in or out. He did find a pretty big tear in the muscles of Loki's chest and took note of that as he moved along. He had a few bruises along his arms and on his back. The most worrying problem was the lump that was on his head in covered by his hair. Someone had to have hit him pretty hard. Loki didn't seem to notice his worry, opting to question Gabriel's use of words.

"What does the defecation of bulls have to do with lies and truth?" Loki asked, perplexed. Gabriel couldn't help it, he laughed.

"It's slang for something that's not right." Gabriel explained. "Speaking of not right, where'd you get that bump on your head? Because I'm sure I didn't do it." He transitioned.

"What?" Loki asked, hand straying into his hair and pressing tenderly at the spot. "Is it noticeable?" he then asked.

"No, I'm doing damage check and I just found it." Gabriel said, confused. "What, did you do get it falling out of bed or something? Maybe having some intense teenage se—" Loki coughed.

"Thor hit me with his molnir." Loki said. Gabriel could just see a tinge of red on his cheeks. "He threw her at me during training and I didn't move in time."

"That's even more embarrassing than what I was thinking." Gabriel deadpanned. Loki flushed.

"I-I hardly had any warning!" Loki shouted defensively. "I had my back turned." Gabriel laughed and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down, Lokes. I'm just giving you a hard time." Gabriel assured. He healed the wounds for good measure and Loki jumped.

"How did you do that?" Loki asked, more curiosity than fear in his voice. "Is that a spell?"

"Nope, just good ol' angel grace." Gabriel said.

"Tell me about it." Loki demanded. "Is it possible for another creature to have possession of it? How might I attain some?" he asked, leaning in and looking at Gabriel as if he had all the answers he could ever want.

"If this Earth's magic caused you to go nuts, what makes you think grace will be any different for you?" Gabriel asked instead. Loki leaned back, his curious fire dampened by the reminder of his corruptible nature.

"If Asgard had such a power, no one would ever die to a foolish war again." Loki said. Gabriel could definitely sense some manipulation in that statement, but also some honesty. Loki wanted the power to sate his own curiosity, but he also genuinely wanted to help his people. Gabriel still shook his head.

"No, if your people are as susceptible to power as you are, it won't do anyone any good." Gabriel intoned sagely.

"Still, will you tell me of it?" Loki asked.

"Don't know what I could tell you. My brothers aren't a curious bunch, they just take things as is." Gabriel lied smoothly. Of course they had books upon books about grace, some of them had even been written by his Father. Of course Gabriel had read each and every one and knew all there is to know about grace. But Loki's curiosity, although slightly endearing, was dangerous. The kid was better off staying away from the pursuit of power altogether. He was too hungry for it, even if his intentions were good.

"You are not the only one who can smell a lie, Gabriel." Loki said, but did not say anything else.

"You know, how about I tell you about Heaven?" Loki seemed satiated by that.

* * *

**TBC...**


	3. Rescue Mission

**A/N: Firstly, thank you for all your reviews, favorites, follows, etc. I really appreciate them and they let me know that I'm doing a good job (or at least a good enough job to keep your attention.)**

**Secondly, I will not be updating Sunday after next because of final exams and projects. I'll be back updating afterwards though, so don't abandon me!**

**Thirdly, enjoy!**

* * *

Thor had been left to his own devices within Michael's meeting room after 'something urgent' had called Michael away. Heaven was certainly an interesting place, but absolutely nothing like Asgard or what he'd imagine Valhalla to be like. It was also all very stuffy and orderly, Thor had only been there three hours and he was already bored of the place.

He didn't understand how the angels just expected him to sit idly by while Loki, his brother, a prince of Asgard, was dragged all across Midgard by some fiend. Though he supposed he hadn't much of a choice, there was no door in this place, only boring dark wood furniture and painting after boring painting adorning the walls. There was a well-furnished book shelf in one of the corners, he supposed Loki would find some use in that. Thor on the other hand was antsy with lack of action, and it was taking all of his self-control not to throw the furniture. At least he would be putting it to some use, rather than it sitting and collecting dust.

About ten minutes later, though to Thor it felt like an hour, an angel appeared and gave him an update on Loki. He told Thor that they did not know where he was, but they would continue looking and that they planned to use Thor as bate to lure Gabriel in.

"If he wanted one brother, he will certainly want the other in due time." The angel had explained calmly. Though Thor was grateful for this assurance, he could not shake the bad feeling he had in his gut. After the angel left, Thor made his way to the bookshelf, only to find that all the books were not anything that struck his interest, no stories and no books of learning or spells. They seemed to be only records. Regardless, he sat and read them, if only to pass the time.

Whatever power Gabriel had used to heal Loki, it was rather potent, because not only was Loki feeling better than he had in years, he was also finding himself in a great mood. He was sure the archangel sitting next to him had nothing to do with it, even if what he was saying was incredibly interesting. It also brought up some incredibly disturbing questions to mind. If there was no Valhalla in this world, then if Thor and Loki died, where would they go? Certainly not this world's equivalent of Hel. He voiced this question to Gabriel, and the archangel stared at him blankly for a moment before chuckling nervously. This did not bode well for Loki.

"You won't die." Gabriel said finally. "I won't let you." He assured. Loki was far from comforted by this. Many things happen that others do not intend, death the most prominent of all. Loki did not think Gabriel would appreciate him noting that, however, and decided to keep his mouth shut, nodding mutely. "Right! Game plan." Gabriel said after a few more moments of silence. "I guess we should go save your bro from my bro, if that's actually where he is." He began.

Loki's eyes widened. "You plan to help me?" He didn't mean for the desperate surprise to permeate his voice, but it did all the same.

Loki could tell Gabriel was doing his best to look casual as he formulated an answer. "Well yeah, it's kind of my fault you're in this dimension anyway, right?" He said, looking at his nails as if they held the secrets to all life's questions. "Besides, there isn't any way your scrawny butt is getting to Heaven on your own, so you'll need my help."

"I am not scrawny. I will have you know that many of the palace women fancy my physique." Loki defended indignantly. To his intense dismay, Gabriel merely laughed.

"If they're your mother, they don't count." Gabriel said simply. Loki flushed. "Luckily your skills with the ladies won't be important." He said, flicking Loki's nose. Forget his good mood, now Loki was back to being irritated.

"Well then, what is your plan, Gabriel?" Loki asked, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

"First, princess," Gabriel began, smirking irritatingly at Loki. "I need to check up on what the situation is, so you wait here and get some more beauty sleep and I'll be back in an hour or so." He said, and then disappeared from his spot on the bed.

"You intend to leave me behind like some helpless damsel?!" Loki shouted at the empty room. Gabriel must not have heard, because he didn't return and Loki didn't hear anymore scathing comments. He crossed his arms and sat back on the bed, fully intending to sulk, when an even better idea came to him. He was in a brand new world, one that no one on Asgard had ever seen before. He should gather more knowledge about this place, understand its workings and then write about it when, he refused to think if, he got back to Asgard. Such knowledge may be useful to the people and it would give him something to do other than spar with Thor and hide in the library when he lost. He gathered himself and exited the room.

The sight that met him was that of an early morning sunrise dyed in purples and pinks set across a sandy desert town. It was small and there were barely any people around, though Loki supposed that'd be best. He was apparently dressed strangely for this place. He looked around and decided to head to the building that resembled a greeting room for the inn he and Gabriel were staying at. He walked in, his entrance heralded by the soft tinkling of the bell. The dark skinned, portly man behind the desk did not look up. Loki cleared his throat.

After a pause, the man finally looked up at him, glared and then looked back down at whatever he was doing. "You are not old enough to rent a room." He informed him in a thick, accented voice.

"I did not plan to." Loki replied smoothly. "I merely wanted to know if there was a library around." He said politely. The man did not look up.

"There is one a few blocks away, on Pinon street." He said. He waved his hand as if dismissing Loki. Loki frowned at the blatant disrespect and exited the building, but not before leaving the man a small gift underneath his desk. He grinned widely when he heard the shrill scream of the man when he discovered a large, fluorescent colored spider on his right foot.

Loki wasn't entirely sure where Pinon street was, or even what a pinon was, but that did not stop him from wondering around town. It wasn't large and would only take him an hour or so to walk fully, so he did just that. Finally, after thirty minutes of walking, he found himself a library and let himself in. It was a small building, but full of books and their satisfying musty smell. A young lady sat behind the table, making smacking chewing noises, not unlike a cow. Did the people here chew cud like the beasts? That would be an interesting development indeed. He walked past the lady, seemingly unnoticed and made his way around the library. He found a particularly dusty section and perused the shelves. He knew from experience that the untouched books usually had the information he wanted.

He was sitting in the section, reading dusty tome after dusty tome of historical biographies of Midgard's influential inhabitants when he heard the door to the library open. He peeked out of his aisle to see one of the men that had cornered he and Thor before. He carefully cast an invisibility spell, cautious not to expel too much energy and returned the books to where they belonged. The man, angel, as Gabriel called them, made his way farther into the library, heading right for Loki's section. He must be able to sense him. Loki made his way out of the aisle and to the back of the library, looking for a back exit to use. He found one that had an 'employees only' sign that he promptly ignored and quietly shut the door behind him. He found himself surrounded by even more books and was at a loss as to what to do. He could hear the door handle jiggle and turn before…

"Excuse me, sir, you can't go in there." The muffled voice of the female floated through the door.

"Why not?" The angel asked solemnly. Loki stood stalk still, afraid to breath.

"It says 'employees only.'" The woman replied bluntly. Loki heard the sound of her fingers tapping against the sign. "You don't look like an employee to me."

"I saw someone enter there before." The angel replied to the girl. Damn.

"Fine, then I'll go check. You wait here." Loki lunged forward to avoid the door, the invisibility spell did not make him intangible after all, and tried to keep out of the angel's line of site for good measure as the door opened. The woman stepped into the room, legs just barely missing Loki as he silently stepped out of the way. He held his breath as the door clicked shut behind her. "If anyone's in here, you better come out! It's off limits in here!" she shouted loudly. As if anyone would heed that warning. She then proceeded to look behind a few shelves, brushing by Loki more than a few times, before leaving again and dismissing the angel.

Loki didn't waste any time while the door slid shut. He climbed up on one of the shelves and threw open a window, snapping the flimsy lock in two before crawling out of it. A moment later he heard the angel appear in the room, approaching the window. Out of options, Loki gathered his magic and teleported to the inn he had started from. He stumbled drunkenly to the door of their room, finding it blessedly unlocked and barely had the door shut behind him before he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Thor had just smashed a chair against one of the walls when he found himself surrounded by company. Luckily, the chair seemed to be the least of the stoic creature's worries, as they merely stood by and waited for Michael, who appeared shortly after.

He looked quite flustered and angry as he strode into the middle of the group. "What is it? I nearly had Gabriel's location." he demanded sternly, turning to look at one of the many angels. "Have you found him?"

"Yes, sir." the angel replied. "He was in a library in New Mexico, however, he escaped before I could apprehend him."

"Who?" Thor asked, excitedly, the prospect of finding his brother leaking excitement into his voice.

"Loki." Michael replied.

"Then we must go to this 'New Mexico' and find him." Thor said sternly as he brandished the leg of the chair he broke. The other angels looked at him with open annoyance, while Michael's expression remained impassive.

"We will continue looking for him. Now that we have a place to begin, the task should be easier." He looked around at the other angels, giving them meaningful glances each. He finally turned his gaze to Thor. "In the meantime, you will stay here. I have a feeling my brother will be coming here for you. He's been skirting the borders of Heaven."

Thor threw his bit of the broken chair at the floor in childish anger. "I will not sit here while my brother's possible location is known!" he shouted, he grabbed the armrest of another chair and lifted it over his head. "I will not be kept here! I am not your captive!" At the final syllable of his sentence he thrust the chair at Michael, who caught it easily.

"You will do as I say." Michael stated. A smirk slithered its way onto his countenance and Thor felt a shiver run up his spine. "Besides, it does not seem as if you have much of a choice." And with that dramatic declaration, the room was empty, chair clattering to the floor and Thor was left alone. At a loss of what to do, he launched himself into more destruction. If he was to be captive, he would be the most disagreeable captive they ever had.

Meanwhile, Gabriel snickered. Michael was such a gullible idiot, he'd led Gabriel right to where they were keeping Thor. Of course, that was probably his plan. Michael's favorite strategy was to gently push his target into his planned direction. He probably expected Gabriel to talk to Thor before taking him though, which was something he had no intention of doing. He'd grab the god and run, Loki could do the talking later. Not yet, though. Michael was on edge and still looking for him along the borders, and if his ears didn't deceive him, he knew that he and Loki were in New Mexico now. He'd have to move the little pain in his neck before he got on with the plan.

Gabriel landed in the middle of the motel room and was rather confused to find no sign of Loki. "Lokes?" He called. He was greeted by a small moan, emanating from the front door, just behind one of the beds. He made his way over to the area to find Loki collapsed on the dirty motel room floor. "Ooh, Lokes… What did you do now?" Gabriel asked as he kneeled next to the crumpled figure.

"Teleportation… is…is harder… than I thought." Loki stuttered as Gabriel helped him up. Loki was pretty boneless, so he ended up just picking him up bridal style and carrying him over to the bed.

"I told you to stay here." Gabriel scolded the kid.

Loki laughed hoarsely. "And you expected me to listen?"

"Good point." Gabriel huffed, dropping the god unceremoniously unto the bed. "How could I expect a moron to know what's for his own good?" he goaded. Loki didn't seem particularly interested. Despite being entirely exhausted, he seemed to be practically vibrating with excitement. "What's wrong?"

"I teleported." Loki stated, as if that was the most amazing thing in the universe.

"Yeah? I do it all the time." Gabriel deadpanned, unimpressed.

"Well, I do not." Loki said. "Teleportation is a very difficult and high level spell." he explained. He looked up at Gabriel who stared at him blankly for a moment.

"Good job!" Gabriel eventually congratulated. Loki sighed and pinched his nose. "What?" Gabriel whined.

"Never mind." Loki sighed again. "Did you get the information you were seeking?" he asked expectantly.

"Oh yeah! First things first," Gabriel grabbed Loki from the bed and he found himself in a much more elaborate room. It still had two beds, but was much larger, with a sitting area and a table. "We needed to move, Michael must have gotten news of your little town outing." he said, dropping Loki on the bed again.

"Would you stop? I am not a sack of potatoes." Loki complained. Gabriel shrugged.

"Anyway, I know where they have Thor." Gabriel said, plopping himself down beside Loki on the bed.

"Yes, and what is the plan for retrieving him." Loki asked, sitting up at the mention of Thor.

"Well, I'm going to make a distraction, then when Michael and his goons are distracted, I'm going to grab Thor and then bring him to you." Gabriel summarized.

"And if that doesn't work?" Loki asked. He adjusted himself so that he was leaning against the pillows on the bed's headboard. "If Michael is as formidable as you say, then I doubt he will be so easily distracted." Gabriel opened his mouth to interrupt, but Loki continued on. "If he catches us in the act of trying to retrieve Thor, he will know we are after him and move him to a more secure location."

"They already know we're after him!" Gabriel injected. "They want us to go after him!"

"Then why are we playing into his hands?" Loki questioned.

"They expect _us_. If I go, they won't expect it." Gabriel answered surely. Loki gave him a sour look.

"You will have to deal with twice the manpower." Loki argued, crossing his arms and looking very much like a petulant teenager.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself, Lokes. They'll spare an extra three angels, at the most. Michael doesn't think you're very powerful." Gabriel lied. As expected, Loki looked less suspicious and angrier at someone underestimating him.

"Then they will find themselves heartily surprised." Loki hissed. "I'm going, Gabriel. You cannot stop me." he said determinedly.

"Well, I could just not take you." Gabriel growled. Loki's insistence had, at first, been cute, but now it was just annoying. "In fact, I won't." he decided.

"What?!" Loki shouted. He went to stand, but ended up falling back into the bed, still a bit weak from teleporting. "You can't!" he almost begged.

"I can and that's final." Gabriel said. He was proud of himself for sounding so stern and sure. "You'll wait here, like a good little trickster, and I'll bring your brother right to you. I'll even wrap him up in a bow if you want." he reasoned.

"I don't want my brother delivered to me like a name-day present. I want to go and retrieve him myself." Loki whined.

"Well that's too damn bad. See ya." Gabriel said, then promptly disappeared, leaving Loki alone to stew.

Gabriel flew himself back to New Mexico and set up a few spells that would replicate angel grace and magic before flying to five other states and doing the same thing in different places in each. Each spell was supposed to set off a flare of magic and his own grace to draw his brethren away from Heaven and even farther away from Thor. He waited until the first three had gone off before making his way to the room which held Thor. He let himself inside, to find the blonde counterpart to Loki making a thorough mess of the room.

Any and all pieces of furniture were in splinters, books were strewn from one end of the room to the other, pages ripped out and spines broken. All of the paintings were off the wall and in varying states of being broken in half to having a hole punched through the central figure. Even the light fixtures on the ceiling and the lamps had their bulbs broken out. And there in the middle of it all was Thor, attempting to bore holes through Michael's antique rug with a sharp piece of wood from one of the broken piles of furniture. He didn't seem to notice Gabriel's entrance, too occupied with his grumbling and rather impressive display of discontent.

"Woah. Are you proud of yourself?" Gabriel asked after surveying the damage. Thor spun around and stood, brandishing his sharp stick. If it could have killed him, Gabriel supposed he would have felt threatened.

"I will not be kept here like some prisoner!" he declared, running at Gabriel with the stick. Gabriel dodged it, disarmed Thor and snapped the piece of wood in half.

"Attempting to kill your rescuer will get you nowhere, Thor." Gabriel informed, grabbing Thor around the waist and tucking him under his arm.

"Release me!" Thor screamed, even as Gabriel took off. He landed in Loki and his hotel room to find the trickster missing.

"Not again! Loki?" Gabriel called, setting Thor down. He walked around the room finding absolutely no trace of the kid anywhere. "I was gone for less than five minutes! Where did you go?!" he shouted.

"You say my brother was here?" Thor asked. He seemed less concerned with Gabriel now that he was out of Michael's room.

"Yeah, but he's not here anymore." Gabriel huffed in frustration. He was sorely tempted to look under the hotel beds for the little brat. "If he teleported off again, I swear I'll—" Gabriel was cut off by Michael's appearance in the room, followed by five other angels.

"You underestimated me." Michael informed him, motioning to one angel that held an unconscious Loki. "He put up quite a fight, but it seems he's been weakened by something." the angel said with feigned innocence.

"Maybe you talked to him too much. Your talking always tires me out." Gabriel snapped, no trace of good humor in his voice. Michael only smirked, sure he'd won. The angel's formed a half circle around them and Gabriel gathered Thor closer to himself.

"You will return my brother to me, fiend." Thor told Michael through gritted teeth. He had nothing to brandish, so he only tightened his fists.

"Oh yeah, that's going to work." Gabriel hissed at him. Thinking quickly, Gabriel used a bit of his grace to transport Thor away and charged at the angel with Loki, tackling him over. Not expecting a physical assault, the angel toppled over with a squeak of surprise and dropped Loki. Gabriel, with speed he never knew he had, especially in a vessel, grabbed Loki and took off.

Once in flight, Gabriel found Michael and his small army hot on his trail. "Hold on, Lokes." Gabriel told the unconscious kid and sped off, sweeping away from the group. He could easily transport himself away from them, but he needed to lose them, that meant more time in flight. He weaved in and out, changed altitude and even tried teleporting a few times to lose his determined pursuers. His hard work paid off, about thirty minutes and half-way around the world later, he lost them and transported back to Thor, who was in the clearing of a forest.

"Loki!" the god shouted, Gabriel hadn't heard anyone more worried or glad. "Is he alright? Give him to me!" he demanded. Gabriel complied and dumped Loki into Thor's waiting arms.

"He'll be fine. Michael just knocked him out. It's a trick we angels have." Gabriel said as Thor looked Loki over, brushing mussed hair away from his face and patting him down for injuries.

"We must get home." Thor finally declared, upon finding Loki had no injury. "It is dangerous for Loki here."

"Hey! Loki was doing just fine with me. He only got captured because I needed to rescue you." Gabriel defended. Loki didn't need any more blows to his self-esteem, unconscious or not. Speaking of the smaller god, he was stirring.

"Loki?" Thor asked, giving his brother a little shake. The trickster slapped Thor's hands away as he opened his eyes.

"Do not smother me so, Thor." Loki commanded. Despite his complaint, Thor grabbed him into a tight hug, which Loki squawked at. "Release me, you great oaf." he shouted.

"He almost had you, Loki." Thor mumbled, burying his head in Loki's shoulder. Loki stopped squirming then and looked up at Gabriel. Thor seemed completely unaware, perfectly content to hug his brother until the world ended.

"Hey, don't fight it. I'd kill to have my brothers hug me like that." Gabriel shrugged. Loki nodded slightly, seemingly comforted that Gabriel wasn't going to mock him and wrapped his arms around Thor.

"I was worried for you." Loki stated. "This world is full of many adversaries, indeed." He felt Thor nod against his shoulder. "Gabriel is a friend, though. Make no mistake." he told Thor and Gabriel was suddenly glad his wings weren't visible to Loki because they puffed up involuntarily with warmth.

Thor finally released Loki from the embrace to look at Gabriel. "I am sorry I tried to stab you." he said honestly, like he was apologizing for stepping on Gabriel's foot. In Heaven, attempting to stab someone was not something you just apologized for, especially since the only particularly stabby thing was an angel blade, but perhaps things were different on Asgard, so Gabriel just nodded.

Loki, however, did not. "You tried to stab him?" he asked. Gabriel can't really discern what kind of question it is from Loki's tone. It just sounds like a casual question. Thor nodded, looking thoroughly ashamed with himself. "I tried to kill him too, it is no worry." Loki assured. Gabriel wanted to object to that, it was a matter, a very big matter. "It seems he has that effect on people." Gabriel couldn't help his shout of indignance.

"I thought he was an enemy." Thor defended. "I would not try to kill someone over their disposition." Loki looked doubtful at that, but thankfully didn't comment.

"Alright, kids. As fun as sitting around in the mud and hugging is, we've got to get going. Michael'll be here any minute." He kneeled and gathered Thor and Loki into his arms with a strength that seemed to surprise and impress Thor. Then he took off, intent on finding a place for them all to rest. The next leg of their quest was going to be a tad bit harder. He had to find a way to get Loki and Thor back home while also keeping them out of the clutches of his, most likely, righteously angry, archangel brothers.

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**TBC...**

**(I accidentally switched tenses there at the end. I'm pretty sure I fixed it, but let me know if you see any mistakes. Thank you!)**


	4. New Homebase, Bedtime and Breakfast

**A/N: Alright, finals are done, so I should be able to start posting regularly. I'm working on a few other stories, but I'll try to update pretty frequently.**

**There's mushy gushy stuff in this chapter. Not a lot, but it's there. Be sure to brush your teeth after reading.**

**Thank you for your reviews, favs and follows, they really help motivate me to keep writing! Enjoy!**

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Thor found himself once again in a small room, only this time it had windows, two beds, a table, three chairs, what looked like a very small kitchen area and his brother, a notable improvement from his last accommodations. His brother and the his rescuer, the archangel Gabriel, were talking, formulating a plan to get them back home. For once, Thor did not feel particular arguable, merely content to be out of that dreadful room Michael had kept him in before. He sat in one of the chairs at the table and looked out the window, chin resting in his palm. They were rather high up, a fact that did not bother him, and he was content to watch the ant-like forms of the people below bustle around as their metal, rolling contraptions roared through the wide streets. He had been so interested in watching the activity that he did not notice Loki calling his name and looked up in surprise when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you unwell?" Loki asked. There was none of the impatience in his tone that Thor expected, just concern. There was a small frown wrinkling Loki's brow. "Would you like Gabriel to check you for injuries?"

"No, I am alright." Thor said, Loki seemed unconvinced, so Thor motioned towards the windows. "The mortals are quite advanced in this world, Loki." he said with enthusiasm. "They have made machines that help them to move faster and they are all so very busy. They are very interesting." he explained.

"Mother would be happy to know that you have found something other than weapons and sparring to keep your attention, even if it is merely mortal watching." Loki informed him succinctly. "I wished to know if you wanted to add anything to our strategy." he informed Thor. When the god looked at him blankly he sighed. "Gabriel can perform a spell that will hide his energy from Michael, then we will work together to create another tear. Once it is opened, we will then make our way through. Gabriel plans to come with us, by the way." Loki told him, daring him to argue.

"Do you think father will approve?" Thor asked, he didn't have any desire to upset Loki, but if Odin did not want Gabriel in their realm then things would turn out badly for all of them.

"I do not plan to inform him." Loki replied honestly. "Nor do I plan on telling him where we have been. You should consider doing the same." Thor knew that was Loki's polite way of saying that Thor should keep his mouth shut.

"But why does Gabriel wish to come to Asgard?" Thor asked, honestly perplexed. "This place is so interesting."

"According to Gabriel, it is doomed." Loki said, turning his head to look out the window. His expression was closed off. "He doesn't wish to be a part of it."

"The angels will be its doom?" Thor asked, casting a surreptitious glance over at their archangel savior.

"Inadvertently, yes." Loki answered, growing impatient. "Besides that, do you have anything to add to our plan?" he asked, back to the point.

"I think you should tell father of Gabriel and our experiences here." Thor said honestly. "Tell him of Gabriel's part in our safe return to Asgard and he will surely let him stay."

"Thor, I honestly do not know what realm of fantasy your mind resides in to allow you to be so blind to father's nature." Loki said, palming his face. "I refuse to change this part of our plan. It will be better for everyone if Father knows nothing." With that, Loki turned away from Thor to resume plotting with Gabriel, apparently convinced that Thor's opinion was of no use.

"He will find out eventually, Loki." Thor muttered, returning his attention to the window. "It will be better for you if you do not lie to Father in the first place." Loki didn't seem to hear Thor's mumbled advice and continued speaking to Gabriel excitedly. Thor continued watching the mortals bustle about their short lives.

Michael on the other hand, was not involved in such leisurely activities. He had called a meeting with his best officers soon after Gabriel had disappeared with the two foreign gods. He paced in front of them, clearly showing his displeasure with his body language without letting it leak into his expression or voice. "I want you to find those gods," Michael began, each of the officers nodded in affirmation. "Gabriel is a secondary issue; if we capture the gods we will have him as well."

"If I may ask…" one of the angels interrupted stoically. "Why do you want the two _children _so badly?" he had honestly voiced the question all of the garrisons had been asking. "Surely Gabriel should take priority, they are no danger without him."

"They don't belong here." Michael stated. "Their presence will interfere with Father's plans." he turned to the questioning angel who straightened that much more under the commanding archangel's gaze. "We cannot force them back through the tear, as it has already closed, so I want them found and killed before they can disrupt things any more than they have." he turned to all of the angels. "Find them before Gabriel can hide them away and bring them to me. I will deal with disposing of them." The angels disappeared without a reply, off on their mission.

Gabriel could sense one of his brothers was close, not because of any particular energy, but because the radio clicked on and emitted a sound that was words to Gabriel and Loki, but caused Thor to collapse onto the floor, hands clasped over his ears, twitching weakly. Loki disregarded the threat to Gabriel over the radio in favor of running over to his fallen brother, attempting to pry Thor's hands away from his ears and getting head-butted for his efforts. He fell back, nose bleeding while Thor continued to wreath soundlessly on the floor. Gabriel didn't particularly notice, too taken by the message over the radio. Michael was looking for them and he planned to kill Gabriel if he didn't hand over the two brothers. It had to be a bluff. It had to be!

"Gabriel! Please turn that cursed thing off!" Loki begged, trying to assuage Thor. He was straddling the god's waist as he thrashed, "I do not understand why he is having this reaction and I cannot get him to stop!" As if to prove that fact, Thor once again bucked Loki off.

Gabriel hardly waited a second before complying. The radio exploded violently and Thor stopped his squirming. Loki was able to remove his hands to find them coated in blood. "Gabriel!" he called desperately. Thor's head was lolling in his lap and Loki had hold of his hands, looking completely at a loss. Gabriel rushed over and knelt next to the two brothers, placing two fingers on Thor's forehead. The steady stream of blood from his ears abated and Thor popped up, grabbed hold of Loki and looked over him for injuries again.

"Why did he have that reaction, Gabriel?" Loki asked. He attempted to push Thor away and failed as the god checked his nose. "He shouldn't have… We are both…"

"Michael must have done something to him." Gabriel theorized.

"Michael never touched me." Thor protested once he was sure Loki was fine.

"Doesn't have to." Gabriel explained. He exemplified this by cleaning the blood off both Thor and Loki without so much as lifting a finger. "I use movements because I don't want to scare the crap out of you, Michael doesn't care." He pat Thor on the shoulder as both brothers went to stand. "Looks like we'll have to be keeping you away from any radios, sorry." Thor found that he didn't mind too terribly much.

After the fiasco with the radio, Gabriel gathered them up and transported them to another inn. It looked very different from the others they had stayed in. There were no windows and blessedly, no radios. It was also much, much larger and there were doors to other rooms. Gabriel immediately set about marking up the place with symbols neither Loki nor Thor could recognize and once he was done with that he ushered them both into a room with a strange bed structure. It had two beds, one stacked on top of the other with space in between and a ladder leading up to the top. Thor found it to be ingenious and intriguing if his reaction was anything to go by, quickly scurrying up onto the top bunk via the ladder and throwing a dusty blanket around his shoulders.

"Loki! Come join me!" he invited, but Loki stared at him with his arms crossed. He was honestly trying not to laugh at his brother's enthusiasm, but Thor took it the wrong way. "Are you angry at me, brother?" he asked timidly. Loki shook his head and took a seat on the bottom bed.

"I don't see why one has to exert so much effort just to get into bed." he explained. Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Mr. No Fun, its bedtime, so get sleeping. If you need me I'll be in the living room." he informed them, walking out of the room.

"Wait!" Thor shouted, and Gabriel stopped, half way out the door. "Where will you sleep?" he asked. Gabriel shook his head with a huff.

"I don't," Gabriel said. At Thor's confused look he amended. "I don't sleep. I don't need to." he explained, and although Thor nodded, Loki could tell he was not entirely satisfied with his answer.

"Goodnight, Gabriel." Loki said solemnly, in a way, dismissing the archangel. The Gabriel nodded and disappeared through the doorway, the door swinging shut behind him. The room was dark and Loki settled in to get some sleep that, for the first time on their adventure, was not caused by complete exhaustion.

"Goodnight, Loki." Thor said quietly from above him.

"Goodnight, Thor." Loki replied.

"I wish you sweet dreams." Thor whispered. Loki sighed. Thor did this every time they slept in the same room together.

"And I you, Thor." Loki replied in a quiet whisper. He heard rustling from above, most likely from Thor settling down into the bedding more before he whispered again.

"I love you, Loki."

"And I you, Thor." Loki repeated. He knew Thor said that phrase far too willingly to far too many people for it to really mean anything, but when Loki was feeling poorly it always helped somehow. It seemed to work in the opposite way now though, as he heard Thor's breath finally even out and he started snoring softly. He only felt himself growing anxious.

Loki silently snuck out of bed then, timing his necessary noises with Thor's snoring pattern. He carefully and quietly crept to the door, stepping softly and then eased the door open, wincing when it squeaked. Thor did not fully stir, though, and Loki managed to close the door behind him, only rousing Thor enough for him to mumble and roll over. He made his way to the living area, finding Gabriel sat on the sofa.

"Go to bed, Loki." Gabriel said without turning. Loki tried not to be surprised. He'd been so quiet! As if sensing what he was thinking, Gabriel said "I have more little brothers than people you are ever likely to know, most of which try to sneak out at one point or another." he explained.

"I would assume most of your younger brothers are likely to listen to you. However, I will not." Loki declared, striding into the room proudly.

"Loki, stop being stubborn and go back to bed. I'm busy." Gabriel replied impatiently.

"I can hardly sleep. I've slept so much today already." Loki lied. In truth, he was still quite tired, but he didn't want to sleep. If the angels attacked, he wouldn't be awake for it.

"Yeah, like I believe that. Loki, I have to rest in my own way too, but to do that I need you in bed." Gabriel explained, turning to look at the teen. The archangel's eye were glowing an eerie gold color.

"What are you doing?" Loki asked, trying not to let the uneasiness seep into his voice.

"Right now? I'm searching for already weak spots in the fabric between worlds." Gabriel informed, turning away from the kid. "Also your magic is green, which is hilarious because you also wear green." the archangel informed him. Loki looked at his tattered cape self-consciously. "Speaking of which, did you and Thor lose a bet or something? What's with the Christmas colors?"

"Christmas colors?" Loki parroted.

"Yeah, red and green? Those are colors for Christmas, or I guess the winter solstice, on Earth." Gabriel explained. He hadn't turned back to Loki since turning away and it made Loki a bit nervous, more nervous than he had been when Gabriel was staring at him with those gold eyes. They were a lot like Heimdall's all-knowing, all-seeing eyes.

"Mother picked the colors." Loki replied honestly. Unlike Thor, he is long since passed complaining about the colors his mother picks for them to wear. "She says the colors are complimentary, just like the princes should be." he explained. Gabriel gave him a dip of his head in acknowledgement, but didn't say anything. They stayed like that for a while, Gabriel staring into seemingly nothing and Loki watching him. Finally, after ten minutes that felt like ten years, Gabriel turned to him again. His eyes were back to their normal honey color.

"Kay, Lokes," Gabriel said, standing. "Time for bed, because I have to rest too." Before Loki could give a squawk of protest, Gabriel had slung over his shoulder and toted him to Thor and Loki's bedroom. He didn't bother with the door and instead flew them the short distance to the bed inside and deposited Loki on the bed. He leaned down, pushed Loki into a lying position and covered him with the blanket before disappearing. Loki stayed where Gabriel had left him, completely mortified that Gabriel had just effectively tucked him in.

After Gabriel had left Loki to sleep, he made his way back into the living room. He wasn't going to sleep like Loki probably assumed he would, but he would be resting. Just, turn everything off for a bit. He sat down on the couch and let his guard down for a bit. He came back to himself about three hours later, when he felt his brothers passing over them. Not even most humans knew this place existed, so there was no way his brothers would think to look here to find them. He tensed regardless, and tracked their movement until they were far enough away that he could barely feel them. He settled back into thought.

He'd probably have to check Thor out tomorrow to see what Michael had done to him. In all honestly, it was probably his brothers' true voice that bothered him, but if that was the case, why didn't it bother Loki? Maybe the Asgardians were like humans and some could handle an angel's true visage and some couldn't. If that were the case, then Loki might be a possible vessel. He'd have to give the god a talk, if that were the case.

He was dragged out of his thoughts by Thor, who was startlingly close to his face and staring at him with big blue eyes. It took Gabriel all of his self-control not to give an unmanly squeak. "Woah! Thor?!" he shouted instead, Thor moved backwards, so that Gabriel could sit up.

"You were not responding to my calls, though your eyes were open." Thor explained, taking a place next to Gabriel on the couch. "Can you sleep with your eyes open?" he asked. He seemed both curious and excited.

"No, I wasn't sleeping. I was just kind of…" He trailed off with a vague wave of his hand. "thinking." he finished.

"Ah. Loki occasionally does that." Thor said in understanding.

"Anyway, what did you want?" Gabriel asked, standing from the couch and stretching his back. "And where's the Lokester?"

"Loke…ster…?" Thor mimicked in confusion. Gabriel sighed.

"Your brother." he clarified. Thor then nodded.

"Ah! He is still sleeping. I woke because of hunger." the blonde god said cheerfully. "I was going to inquire after breakfast." he continued.

"Oh yeah, eating." Gabriel said thoughtfully. "Yeah, I'll get right on that." he walked into the kitchen and Thor followed. "Well, since we're both up and your bro's not, tell me about him." he prompted.

"About Loki?" Thor asked, scratching his chin in thought. "He is my brother." he finally said.

"Yeah, I got that. What's he like?" Gabriel asked. He snapped his fingers and suddenly there was a full spread of breakfast foods. Thor looked surprised, delighted and confused. "There, help yourself."

Thor did exactly as he was told, digging into the breakfast with gusto. To Gabriel's absent dismay, he did not use any of the plates or cutlery that he had so thoughtfully conjured up. "So, brother…" he prompted again. Thor looked up, mouth full of food, but had the grace to swallow before talking.

"He does not get along well with others, but he means well, I think." Thor said, grabbing more food. "He has a love for deception and trickery, which many of Asgard's people do not appreciate." He stuffed said food in his mouth, chewed, then swallowed before continuing on. "He has gotten us into more than one troubling situation with his lies, but he manages to get us out of it. If you are concerned about whether he is trustworthy or not, he is."

"Nah, I just wanted to know if he acted the same way around you that he did for me." Gabriel said, leaning up against the counter and stuffing a pastry in his mouth. "Hey, this is pretty good." he told Thor.

"You summoned it, yet you don't know what it tastes like?" Thor asked incredulously. Gabriel shrugged. He'd been working his way through all the more recent human food he'd heard of. They seemed to have a thing for sugar, which Gabriel was more than okay with. He stole a few pastries off the counter before heading back out to the living room.

"So how are you so sure he's trustworthy?" Gabriel asked casually when he saw Thor had followed him.

"I have seen and experienced his love and conviction. He may have a love for lies and deception, but he also has a greater love for the good of our people." Thor said. It sounded as if he was offended by Gabriel's skepticism. It made the archangel smirk inwardly.

"Alright, calm down. I was just wondering. You said he was a liar—" Gabriel said, Thor cut him off.

"He will not betray you." Thor stated. "I do not pretend to know what goes on in Loki's mind, but I do know he will not betray you."

"Okay." Gabriel said easily. "Just making sure." In truth, Gabriel wanted to make sure Thor wasn't the enormous ass hole he had thought he would be. Loki was a good kid and as much as it pained Gabriel to admit it, he cared about the little brat, maybe even liked him, so he wanted to make sure his brother was at least a good influence. He liked Thor too, he was earnest and brash and those were characteristics angels just didn't have, it made for a refreshing change.

"If you are finished, I want to go wake my brother. He should eat as well." Thor said. Gabriel had obviously upset the kid. He'd have to apologize… later, probably. He watched as Thor marched stiffly into the bedroom. He came out about ten minutes later with a sleep mussed trickster rubbing at his eyes.

"Morning, Loki-dokie!" Gabriel called. He shoved a pastry in his mouth as Loki looked up at him in annoyance.

"It is too early for your foolery, Gabriel." Loki grumbled, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to tame the now curly and tangled mop, but only managed to disturb it further.

"Oh! Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Gabriel commented. He licked his fingers and stood to follow Thor and Loki into the kitchen.

"Look, brother! Gabriel has prepared us a most illustrious meal!" he announced, motioning towards the still quite impressive spread, despite the dent Thor had put in it. "Come, Loki, eat!"

Loki yawned, long and wide before grabbing a plate and putting a piece of fruit and a croissant and wondering back into the living room, as there was no dining table. He curled up on the couch and nibble at his food while both Gabriel and Thor watched in mixed dismay.

"Lokes, you aren't going to eat any more than that?" Gabriel asked doubtfully. Thor nodded his agreement.

"I told you it was too early for your foolishness," Loki said, setting the croissant he had been nibbling back on the plate. "I am not hungry in the mornings and your food is foreign." he explained before turning back to his food with a huff.

"Does he always act like this in the morning?" Gabriel muttered to Thor. The question earned him a withering glare from the drowsy god on the couch. Thor nodded and Loki frowned.

"Excuse me for preferring quiet mornings," Loki grumbled, taking a larger bite out of his food. "and for not wishing to stuff myself to bursting."

"Excuse me for not wanting you to turn into a skeleton, princess." Gabriel snarked back. "Thor ate enough for the two of you."

"I'm not Thor." Loki replied simply. "And I don't eat in the mornings." He finished with his meager breakfast and then marched off to the bathroom, leaving his plate where he was sitting. Once the teen was safely behind the door, Thor turned to Gabriel.

"I appreciate your concern for my brother, but he despises coddling." Thor informed the archangel. "I apologize for his behavior."

"Nah, I hate it too." Gabriel said. He placed a hand on Thor's shoulder. "But you guys might be strong, but you're not invulnerable, and I've never taken care of even just a fledgling before, so I want to make sure I don't kill you on accident." he admitted. To his surprise, Thor grinned.

"I am glad to know that you care!" he boomed happily. "I realize that Loki does not want to tell the Allfather of your presence when you enter our realm, but I highly suggest you talk to him. You may gain yourself a place in the royal courts." he advised. He then headed into the kitchen. "Loki will be a while yet, with no supplies to tame his hair. Let us eat!" Gabriel didn't need to be told twice. He followed the blonde god into the kitchen and watched in mild horror and amazement as Thor cleared away the rest of the food in a matter of minutes.

True to Thor's word, Loki didn't come out of the bathroom until almost an hour later. His exit was not accompanied by the billow of steam Gabriel would have expected, but it looked like Loki had managed to tame his hair into some semblance of what it was before their unexpected adventure the day prior. He was still running his fingers through it and brushing it back with quick, frustrated motions when Gabriel greeted him.

"I could probably get you something, so your hair will stay." Gabriel suggested, when pieces of Loki's hair sprung up from their forced position and took on the appearance of antenna. Loki huffed, puffing one of the stray strands out of his face.

"If it would not be too much trouble…" he said with a sigh.

Gabriel chuckled and summoned some hair gel, he was lucky that his vessel already had existing knowledge on what kind of gel to use. "No trouble at all." he assured, pulling a small aerosol container out from behind his back. "You spray into you hand and then kind of…" he mimed running his fingers through his hair. "Be careful though, once it dries it'll be really stiff, so you won't be able to adjust it anymore."

Loki nodded in understanding. "Thank you, I shall be quick." he said, before disappearing into the bathroom again.

"Just when I thought my brother was done with his morning rituals, you give him reason to go preen in the mirror more." Thor commented from behind Gabriel once Loki had tightly shut the bathroom door. "I did not think you would encourage his vain habits."

"Hey!" Gabriel snapped indignantly. "Looking good is important. It makes you feel good and gives a good first impression." he told Thor sagely.

"Perhaps that is why Loki is more diplomatic than I." Thor pondered. Gabriel led them back out into the living room, intent on giving Loki some privacy. "He puts more thought into his appearance."

"Mm… That's probably part of it." Gabriel said, plopping down onto the couch. "It doesn't look like you need to put too much thought into it, you lucky bastard. You roll out of bed looking like a freaking ray of sunshine." he grumbled, crossing his arms. "I'm one of the most powerful beings in Heaven and I can't even manage that. I think it's 'cause messy looks good on you."

Thor seemed to become uncharacteristically bashful at that, glancing down at the compliment and grinning. "Oh? Well… I thank you for saying so." he said, running a hand through his hair. "It is fortunate, I am a warrior and a prince, after all."

Before Gabriel could wonder what that was about, Loki emerged from the bathroom. He looked much more put together and much less frustrated.

"Better?" Gabriel asked, raising an eyebrow at the teen before him.

"Much." Loki replied smoothly. "Thank you." he then added.

"This is good, brother! For now I need to use the toilet." Thor announced, rushing past Loki to the bathroom.

"Well then, don't announce it to the world!" Loki scolded, turning to find his brother had already disappeared. He ran a hand down his face. "I do not know how many times Mother has told him not to do that. He'd announce it to the whole of the courts of all the nine realms..." he muttered.

Gabriel laughed. "I bet people find it endearing." he comforted Loki.

"I find it embarrassing." Loki deadpanned. "Regardless, what are our plans?"

"I dunno, it's kind of up to you." Gabriel said, leaning back into the couch. He wished he had something to put his feet up on. He absently wondered what Asgard's policy was with feet on tables. "There aren't any weak spots in the folds here, so we might want to move after a find one a bit farther away, or we can just start working here."

"I believe it would be best to find an already existent weak spot. Once we begin working, our combined energies may alert your brethren." Loki replied, sitting down on the couch. He tilted his head slightly in thought.

"Yeah, probably." Gabriel admitted. "I know some wards to put up that can mask my power, but yours is another story." he said.

"I suppose we should ask Thor his opinion as well." Loki said, rubbing his chin. At that point, the mentioned god strutted out of the bathroom.

"Ask my opinion on what?" he asked, joining the two on the couch.

"Our next plan of action." Loki said. Gabriel took the liberty of giving Thor their options and Loki's opinion.

"I must agree with my brother, if that is the case." Thor said, nodding. "I do not want to make this unduly difficult. Could we not use the spot we already made?" he then asked.

"Nope, my brothers will be looking for us there, it's best if we find another spot." he said. When Thor nodded in understanding he clapped his hands. "Alright, well then, if you guys skedaddle, I'll start looking for another spot, maybe a little farther away." Gabriel said enthusiastically. When Loki stood to do just that, Thor grabbed him around the shoulders.

"Let us go spar, brother!" Thor suggested, dragging Loki away and towards the kitchen area. Gabriel was glad there wasn't anything breakable in there anymore. Loki was stubborn though and Thor only managed to drag him a few inches before he jerked to a stop because of Loki centering himself.

"I would love to spar with you, Thor. But as I cannot use magic for fear of alerting Michael's forces, it is best that I don't." Loki said. Thor let go and stared at his brother like he had murdered a beloved pet. Loki looked away in determined frustration. "Do not look at me like that."

"But you don't need to use your magic! We can do hand to hand! Please!" Thor begged, Loki huffed and looked away.

"I can't be sure that I won't use it." Loki said, Gabriel could tell by his tone alone that he was lying. Loki always sounded a tad sweeter and smoother when he lied. He lied too well. "Besides, you should bathe. You smell." He wrinkled his nose as an example and Thor sniffed at himself self-consciously.

"Very well, but as soon as we get to Asgard…" Thor said, pointing a finger at Loki. "I want to spar."

"Of course." Loki said with a nod. Thor seemed satisfied and wondered off to the bathroom, was quiet for a few minutes and then came back out to ask Loki how the bath worked. Gabriel was surprised Loki was even able to figure it out in the first place.

**TBC...**


	5. Infiltration Via Kitchen

**A/N: Hello again, everyone! Not much to say about this chapter. I introduce some familiar faces in this chapter and set up for a new story (yes, I know. I'm terrible.) I'll give more info on that at the end of the chapter. Also, I'm pretty sure we're in the final stretch here, maybe one or two more chapters.  
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**Thank you for your reviews, follows and favorites! They are really helpful and fun to read! Please enjoy this new chapter!**

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When Thor returned from the bathroom, Loki was sat on the couch reading and Gabriel was nowhere to be seen. Thor made his way out into the sitting room and looked around for the angel, but still could not find him. "Loki, where has our friend gone." Thor asked in confusion when he found the archangel was not in the kitchen.

"He has gone to scout out a weak spot he found. Once he has returned, we may go there with him." Loki explained and swiftly turned his attention back to his book. "He said he would be back within the hour." he lapsed into silence and Thor frowned, looking at his brother's bowed head.

"What are you reading?" Thor asked after a few minutes. He also wanted to know where Loki even acquired the book, as there were no shelves in their shelter that Thor had seen.

"It's a book about the history of this world." Loki explained. "Gabriel gave it to me before he left. There are more books in the kitchen if you would like." he said, motioning towards the kitchen and turning his attention back to his book. Thor nodded and wondered into the aforementioned room, sifting through the books that Gabriel had set on the counter. There were more history books, books about art and books about different cultures bound in leather, and then small piles of books bound in a luminescent paper that was smooth to the touch. Thor grabbed one and looked at the small illustration on the cover. It looked a lot like Asgard, not perfect, but similar, with two figures, one in green and one in red standing on what looked like the Bifrost. Thor examined the book, curiosity sparked, and opened it to read the first couple of paragraphs. It was apparently written by someone named Howard Stark. Thor was immediately enthralled by the book and it's characters that bore striking resemblance to he and his brother.

Thor wandered into the living room with three of the small books, all of them had the same main title, but different subtitles and he planned to read all of them before Gabriel returned. He settled in on the couch, careful not to disturb Loki. Despite his best efforts, Loki shifted and huffed in annoyance, but didn't say anything. Within minutes of reading, Thor was immediately immersed in the story. The characters had the same names as everyone in Asgard, the personalities were relatively the same and when the author chose to describe a character, Thor could clearly picture the person in his head. It was odd and remarkable. It was almost as if Howard Stark had been to Asgard himself.

By the time Thor was half way through the second volume and thoroughly traumatized by the thought of Loki being a villain, like his book counterpart, Gabriel appeared in their room with a flourish. Loki pointedly ignored him, but Thor dropped his book and stood in favor of greeting Gabriel.

"Welcome back, Gabriel!" Thor shouted jovially. "Has you scouting gone well?"

"Hey, Thor." Gabriel replied, plopping down on the farthest end of the couch. "Hey, Lokes." he greeted. Loki put down his book and observed Gabriel, narrowing his eyes. "Scouting did not go well, I take it." Loki stated. Thor wondered how he could pick up on the ill news so easily.

"No." Gabriel replied grumpily. "One of Michael's goons caught up with me. I managed to shake him before coming here, but they may have figured out our plan." he told them seriously. Thor frowned grimly.

"Do they know where we are hiding?" Thor asked, taking his place between Loki and Gabriel on the couch.

"No, but they know what we're going to try to do." Gabriel said, crossing his arms.

"Then it would be best if we just reopen the hole that Thor and I fell through." Loki piped in, snapping his book shut. "It is obvious they know what our plans are, so we complete our task as quickly as possible."

"That's a sure-fire way to get captured, there, Lokes." Gabriel said. He cast a side-long glance at the mentioned god. "I know you're anxious to get home, but we gotta take this slow. I say we do some research, do some experiments, see if we can't cloak your power and then we open a hole here, where Michael won't expect it. With your help, it should take half the time it did for me, anyway." he said surely.

Loki paused for a moment, seemingly thoughtful. Thor could recognize that look anywhere. The gears were turning in Loki's mind. Loki was planning. Finally, after a few, long moments of silence, he spoke. "How do you intend to do this research?"

"Libraries, of course!" Gabriel said excitedly. "Maybe we can get some info on your power! There are books about you, but I'll need your help to see if their accurate." he explained. "A guy named Howard Stark seemed to know quite a bit about you, even wrote a few books."

Thor glanced to the forgotten book next to him on the couch, fist clenching slightly. These books had been written by Howard Stark, they were fiction... right? Was Gabriel suggesting they were true?

After a moment of deliberation, Thor spoke. "I have read his works and they are rubbish." he declared. There was no way Loki would betray him and attack innocents. Loki loved to lie, but he was not evil. To exemplify his doubts of the book, he picked it up and tossed it onto the floor.

Gabriel snatched the book up, to his dismay and flipped through the pages. "It's cause Loki goes bad, isn't it?" the archangel asked bluntly. Thor let his distress show openly on his features. A quick glance over at Loki showed a careful disinterest. Did Loki already know about this?

"Loki is not evil. He would never betray his family." Thor stated. "He is out of character in these books, therefore I believe them to be wholly inaccurate."

Gabriel looked like he was getting ready to speak, but Loki interrupted. "As much as I appreciate your trust in me, Thor," Loki began, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Me becoming 'evil' as you put it, is not entirely an impossibility."

Thor looked over to his brother, horror painted on his face. "What do you mean, Loki?!" he demanded, standing from the couch and towering over his brother who sat calmly.

"I am a magic user. If one is careless, corruption is almost guaranteed." Loki stated. He carefully examined his nails, refusing to look Thor in the eye. "Magic is dangerous to both the mind and body. Mother has told you that, Thor. Or have you forgotten?"

"But Mother uses magic!" Thor protested.

Loki sighed. "I will not argue this, Thor. Just know it is a possibility." he stated, glaring up at Thor fiercely.

"I will not let it happen." Thor said, matching the ferocity of Loki's glare with his tone.

"Very well." Loki huffed, but did not push the matter anymore. "It would still be to our benefit to pay a visit to the books' creator. He may know something."

After Gabriel and Loki had decided on a course of action, Gabriel disappeared for a bit. He was apparently getting something ready to help hide them from the angels without sigils, so they could move around freely. Despite both Thor and Loki asking him what it was, he would not elaborate, so the two gods were left on the couch.

Loki had gone back to reading, deliberately not even sparing Thor a glance. Thor sat on the couch and stewed. After Loki had turned about four pages, Thor decided to speak up.

"I would like to ask this Howard a question." Thor told Loki. Loki didn't look up from his book, but hummed to tell Thor he was listening. "I would like to ask him if his Loki ever gains redemption."

Loki huffed and shook his head. "Ask him what you wish, but I doubt you will like his answer."

Before Thor could reply, Gabriel returned, holding a book and looking very pleased with himself. He flopped down on the couch between Loki and Thor and looked at each expectantly before flipping open the book. "So…" Gabriel began, rounding his lips and elongating the word. "Anyone gonna ask me about this book?" he questioned.

Loki snorted, obviously not willing to play Gabriel's game, so Thor took initiative. "What is that book, Gabriel?" he said accommodatingly. Gabriel grinned at him.

"This book holds runes that will be able to hide you from angels! I've already applied them to myself, so now it's your turn." Gabriel explained, poking Thor in the chest. Loki set his book down, dog-earing the page he was on.

"What will this entail, exactly?" Loki asked curiously, now giving his full attention to Gabriel.

"Oh, I'm just going to burnthemintoyourribs." Gabriel said. The last half came out too quickly for Thor to fully comprehend, but it sounded painful. Loki must have caught the same vibe, because his eyes widened marginally.

"What was that?" Loki asked seriously.

"I've gotta burn them into your ribs." Gabriel finally said, loud and clear. Loki's brow furrowed. They were no stranger to pain, but how would Gabriel go about reaching their ribs?

"How?" Thor asked, voicing the question both he and Loki were thinking.  
"Oh, I'll just use my grace, it'll hurt for a little bit, but it won't require cutting or anything." Gabriel assured. "So, who wants to go first?"

"I will." Loki said before Thor could even think of protesting. Gabriel nodded and flipped open the book.

"It will be easier if you're lying down." Gabriel said. He shooed Thor off the couch and Loki slid from his spot so he was lying flat, hands at his sides.

"Keep still." Gabriel said, placing a hand over Loki's chest. He kept his eyes on the book, the pages turned to a diagram of different symbols. There was a slight flux of power and Loki's face pinched up in pain and he coughed. After Gabriel moved his hand, he sat up quickly, coughed again and rubbed his chest.

"That wasn't pleasant." Loki said, glaring up at Gabriel.

"It'll stop hurting in a bit, don't be a pansy. At least I warned you first." Gabriel deflected. Loki stood, allowing Thor to take his place on the couch.

"All right," Gabriel began. "Hopefully you're less of a wimp than Loki." he joked before placing his hand on Thor's abdomen. Then suddenly there was a burning, searing pain and Thor flinched harshly. Gabriel held him down firmly, but he couldn't help but squirm slightly even as the pain began to fade. He coughed.

"Loki is right, that was unpleasant." Thor said when Gabriel finally allowed him to sit up. He messaged his side, which was particularly sore, petulantly as Gabriel laughed at him.

"Man, gods and humans have such low pain tolerances. I barely felt a thing." Gabriel reported proudly. Both Thor and Loki glared at him and he seemed to deflate then. "Fine, fine. We're going to go see this Howard guy, right. Let's go." Gabriel grabbed both of the gods' hands and soon swept them off. A moment later they touched down in Howard Stark's kitchen. The room was large and dark, light seeped into the room from a living area where three people were talking, one seemed especially excited.

"I'm telling you, Steve! Loki! Right outta my books!" Thor hazarded a guess that the one speaking was Howard. "He was just walking on the side of the road and then some guy just snatches him and disappears!" Howard said. His voice got louder with each word.

"Yeah, we believe that." Another one said. Gabriel led them to the door, using the noise of Howard defending himself and clinking glasses to mask their footsteps. "You sure you weren't drunk or somethin'?" the other man continued, even as he took a sip from his own glass.

"Be nice, Bucky." Gabriel and the others were to the door leading into what looked like a sitting area. They could see three men there. One man, with short, oddly cut brown hair, was sat on a short couch, feet on the coffee table. Another man, much smaller than the other two and much thinner, with blonde hair, cut in a similar fashion to the first sat in a recliner. The standing man had a shorter, wavier hairstyle than the other two and a dark mustache across his upper lip.

"That one is Howard." Loki whispered, pointing to the standing man.

"You have met?" Thor whispered back. Loki merely nodded and mouthed that he would tell Thor about it later.

"You sure he was from your books, Howard?" the blonde one asked from his chair. "He wasn't just a fan or… something?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'm sure! He didn't know anything about my books!" Howard defended. "You don't know of anything like this happening before, Steve?" So the blonde one was Steve, then.

"Well, there are prophets that write about things that happen in reality." Steve began thoughtfully.

"So I could be a prophet?" Howard asked expectantly. The man on the couch snorted.

"Yeah right. I don't see any aliens attacking New York right now, do you?" the man scoffed before taking another drink.

"Of course not right now!" Howard said. "My books are set in the future, so it hasn't happened yet!" The man on the couch and Howard dissolved into an argument while Steve looked on.

Thor noticed Gabriel shuffling next to him, getting ready to stand. "What are you doing?" Loki hissed, grabbing his hand. Gabriel ignored him and strode into the light of the living room, leaving both Thor and Loki to fret in silence and confusion.

Gabriel's appearance put a stop to the men's argument and in the following silence he spoke. "You're not a prophet."

"Who are you?!" The man on the couch had stood and had his fists raised, though he was clearly intoxicated in the way he stumbled slightly when he stepped forward.

"Name's Gabriel. We've got some questions to ask good ol' Howard over there." Gabriel said, striding into the room with an impressive swagger. Steve was standing now and seemed to be digging through his pockets for something. "Looking for this?" Gabriel materialized a knife that had been sitting in Steve's back pocket. Everyone tensed.

"Y-you're from the road!" Howard said, eyes lighting up in recognition. "Where's Loki?!" he asked accusingly.

"You've got some weird priorities there, Howard." Gabriel commented. "Loki's in your kitchen with Thor." He looked back to Loki and Thor. "You can come out, by the way." he said.

Loki moved first, leading Thor out of the shadows of the dark kitchen. Despite the situation, Howard grinned when his eyes met Loki's. That grin only got wider when he saw Thor. "Steve! Steve, look! I told you!" Howard boasted.

"That's nice, Howard." Steve said absently, eyes still locked on Gabriel with his knife. "Excuse me for asking, but what are you?" he asked then, completely ignoring the two gods.

"I'm an angel." Gabriel replied simply. "This is a demon killing knife." Gabriel stated. "Are you a hunter? You don't look like a hunter." he narrowed his eyes at Steve.

"I'm an archiver." Steve replied simply. "You really… You're really an angel?" he asked skeptically.

"Yup. An archangel, actually." Gabriel said proudly, puffing out his chest. "So you work for the Men of Letters or what?" he glanced around the room, obviously intending the question for everyone.

"I do." Steve answered tightly, but politely. "Bucky is a hunter," he motioned towards the other man, who nodded proudly. "And Howard is an author."

"Prophet." Howard corrected. Gabriel frowned and Bucky snorted again.

"Like I said, you're not a prophet, at least not for this universe." Gabriel said.

"How do you know?!" Howard demanded, seemingly offended. Bucky made eye contact with Loki and Thor and motioned for them to come over to the couch.

"All the names of the prophets that ever existed and ever will exist are burned into my brain. You aren't a prophet for this universe, but you may be for another." Gabriel explained as Loki and Thor hesitantly made their way over to Bucky who was giving them an encouraging smirk. Steve was still oblivious, attention on Gabriel.

"Are you saying he's predicting things for another timeline?" Steve hazarded to guess, he had made his way closer to the conversation as Bucky sat back down on the couch. Thor and Loki followed his lead, albeit confusedly.

"No, another universe entirely." Gabriel explained. "Thor and Loki over there aren't from this universe," he began.

After Thor and Loki had settled on the couch with Bucky, Loki spoke, keeping his voice low. "Why are you being so hospitable?" he asked suspiciously. Bucky chuckled, but there wasn't any malice in it.

"Steve's obviously not too worried about you, so I don't need to be." He said surely.

"Why do you trust him so?" Thor asked then.

"Steve's a Man of Letters," Bucky began, reclining into the couch. "He'd know if you were a threat. You're not demons, or else you would have been snagged at the door, so I don't think I need to be worried about you too much. You don't look too threatening." He poked Loki's chest in example. Loki glared at him, but thankfully held his tongue.

"Demons?" Thor questioned then. He didn't really see a need to keep track of the other conversation, Gabriel was merely recapping their adventure thus far.

"Yeah, demons. If there're angels, there's demons too, ya' know. Every hunter knows about them." Bucky explained easily.

"And you are a hunter? You hunt these demons? And these 'Men of Letters' who are they?" Loki asked, deciding to join in the conversation.

Bucky laughed. "I'm a hunter, yeah. I don't just hunt demons though, all kinds of things." he explained. "Steve's a Man of Letters. You'd have to ask him about what that is. I'm probably not allowed to tell you."

Loki looked petulant, but didn't push. Thor was excited just by the mere concept of a hunter. "What types of other things do you hunt?" he asked excitedly. Bucky opened his mouth to reply, but Gabriel interrupted.

"Hey! You may wanna listen." Gabriel chided, looking down at the trio on the couch. Both Howard and Steve were looking at them too. Steve with careful apprehension and Howard with open fascination.

"So you wanted to know about how to hide your power, right?" Howard asked, both Thor and Loki nodded. "Well, Loki does something in the books to hide from Heimdall, it's a spell. I've got it written down around here somewhere." He disappeared into an adjoining door and after a few seconds, the sound of shuffling could be heard.

"He may be in there a while." Steve commented, making his way back to his chair. "I'd like to ask you more about the other universes, if that's alright." he said, settling down. Gabriel flopped down into the neighboring armchair.

"I don't know much about any other universes other than this one." Gabriel said apologetically. "It'd be better to ask someone from out of town." he hinted, glancing at Loki. Steve looked expectantly at the god.

"I will tell you only if you tell me about these 'Men of Letters.'" Loki bargained. "If you tell me about them, I will tell you about my realm."

Steve looked hesitant for a moment, mulling the deal over. "Alright." he agreed.

"Just like that?! Come on, Steve! It took me taking out three vampire nests before you even let on that you worked there!" Bucky complained. He looked over at Loki, as if he held some magic power to unlock Steve's lips.

"You obviously didn't have anything good enough to bargain with." Loki goaded.

"You're a little shit." Bucky muttered, but didn't say anything more.

"The Men of Letters are scholars." Steve said, seemingly choosing his sentences carefully. "Supernatural scholars. We… we keep knowledge of things that men can't understand." he settled on saying.

"Do you also hunt creatures, like… Bucky does." Loki seemed hesitant to say the name. Thor could relate, as far as he knew, no one in this world had titles and it made being even remotely formal very difficult. Not to mention their entirely strange names. Who named their child Bucky?

"No. We just collect information." Steve said. "Don't get me wrong, if I could hunt, I would, but…" he motioned to himself as an explanation. "I can't. Instead, I archive and give Bucky any info he needs."

"Not _any _info." Bucky complained. Steve made a show of ignoring him.

"Now, will you tell me of how this… multiple universes… thing works?" Steve seemed to be floundering for words. Thor could relate to that as well. The ways in which the realms connected was all very complicated.

"Simply put, all universes are separated by a barrier. Gabriel explains it as a fabric, the scholars of my people explain it like the branches of a tree. Yggdrisil, to be exact. The world tree." Loki began. "Within Yggdrisil, there are nine realms that are connected within my 'universe' as Gabriel put it. It seems that you may have other realms as well." Loki explained.

Steve nodded in understanding. "How did you get here, then?" he asked.

"Gabriel tore a hole through the fabric or made a space between the branches of Yggdrisil." Loki said. "The resulting empty space must have created a vacuum that pulled us through. I'm afraid I can't tell you any more than that." he said. He sounded less apologetic and more formal, like he was withholding information.

If Steve noticed, he didn't comment. Instead, he smiled easily. "That's alright." he said. Howard chose that moment to emerge from the neighboring room.

"I found it!" he declared triumphantly. He threw his arm in the air, displaying a thick stack of papers tied together with twine.

"What is that?" Thor asked. Howard grinned, almost manically.

"These, my friend, are all of the material that didn't make it into my books." Howard settled himself next to Thor and set the papers onto the coffee table, untying the twine with a theatrically. "Steve told me I needed to keep any spells out, just in case, so it's probably in here."

Bucky sighed and stood. "Where are you going?!" Howard demanded.

"Believe it or not, I'm not too privy to sit and watch you sift through three years' worth of garbage. I'm going to get another beer." Bucky explained, heading to the kitchen. "I'll get one for you too, Steve. Do the kids want snacks?" he asked.

"I would appreciate that, Bucky!" Thor spoke up, turning to peak at the man over the couch. He'd decided to default to sir.

"Okay." Bucky acknowledged, before disappearing into the kitchen.

They sat in silence for a while, the only sounds were of paper rustling as Howard scanned his stack and glass tinkling as Bucky rummaged through Howard's kitchen. The man in question returned soon after with three glass bottles held in one hand. Two were filled with a brown liquid with red labels and one had a white and blue label and the glass was too dark to see the color of the liquid inside. On his other hand he balanced a plate full of assorted foods. He set the plate on the table, precariously close to Howard and popped open the bottles, handing one to Thor and then one to Loki.

"Thank you…" Loki said, eyeing the glass suspiciously.

"Thank you very much, Bucky!" Thor said, immediately taking a drink from the bottle. The drink was bubbly and oddly sweet. Bucky just nodded and moved to Gabriel, handing him the bottle with tinted glass.

"What is this?" Gabriel asked, not suspiciously, just curiously.

"It's for the adults." Bucky winked, returning to his seat. Gabriel seemed to catch the hint, as he popped the lid off and took a swig from the bottle. Steve didn't try to hide his disapproval.

"What?!" Bucky demanded. "You're going to burn a hole in my head, Steve." He cast a sidelong glance at him.

"You gave beer to an angel." Steve stated, sounding disappointed.

"Yeah. So?" Bucky asked. "He seems to like it."

"I do, actually. Don't worry about it, Stevie." Gabriel said, waving away the archiver's concern.

"Found it!" Howard declared triumphantly, plucking a small piece of yellow notebook paper covered in doodles and writing. "Here it is, here." he told them, pushing the snack plate out of the way and smacking the small paper onto the table. The paper was absolutely covered in Nordic runes, Loki leaned in to look, brow furrowing.

"I know some of these spells." Loki said, hopping off the couch and studying the paper closer. He ran his hand along one of the runes and it seemed to glow slightly green. "This one is for a glamour." he informed them. There was English writing next to the rune to confirm Loki's statement.

This attracted the attention of the other four men in the room and soon they were all huddled around the coffee table. They continued to scan the paper for the spell when they Thor stumbled across it.

"Look there!" Thor said, jabbing the paper with his finger. Next to a circular runic drawing, 'concealment spell' was written in Howard's neat handwriting. "Might that work?" he asked.

Loki leaned in to study it, reading the runes no one else could. After a pause, he nodded. "It seems to be the spell we are looking for, but there is only one way to find out." he gave Gabriel a meaningful look. "I expect you to get us out of here in the event we attract unwanted attention."

"Wait, wait, wait." Bucky interrupted. "Before you start, is this gonna cause an explosion or something? Because if that's gonna happen, Steve and I should probably scoot." he said.

"No way! Why would you want to miss this?" Howard interrupted before Loki could answer. "You get to see him work magic! My character! In my house!"

"That's nifty and all, Howard, but I also like having all my parts." Bucky commented. He looked at Loki for an answer.

"It does not have any destructive properties, the worst that will happen is a burst of energy, nothing damaging." Loki said, attention still on the rune, memorizing the spell work. "Your handwriting is atrocious, Howard." he complained, squinting.

Howard didn't seem too terribly insulted and allowed Loki to concentrate. Finally, Loki nodded and stepped back from the table. Despite his assurance that nothing would explode, everyone but Thor and Gabriel seemed to move towards cover. Even Steve stood from his chair and stood slightly behind it, mouth set in a concerned line.

"Don't push yourself." Steve admonished Loki. "Take it easy, okay?" he requested. Loki scoffed.

"Improvement does not come from taking it easy." Loki said simply, and then the next words that came out of his mouth were the spell. His entire body glowed a soft green and gold as he whispered the words under his breath. Eventually, the glowing faded and there was a soft breeze through the room as Loki exhaled, rustling a few papers and sending shivers up everyone's spines. Thor couldn't feel Loki anymore. He could see him, but the pulsing of his power that permeated his presence was gone. "That was not as difficult as I thought." Loki commented, looking around the room.

"That was… interesting." Bucky complimented awkwardly, breaking the silence. Nobody said anything and Thor noticed that both Loki and Gabriel were tensed, awaiting something with bated breath. After a few more moments of pregnant silence, Gabriel released a breath.

"They're gone." Gabriel said. Loki deflated.

"Who? Who's gone?" Howard asked, but got ignored as Gabriel strode over to gather Loki and Thor.

"My brothers." Gabriel explained. "Come on, Thor, Loki." he instructed. "Let's get back and regroup and then we can get you home." he said.

"Wait, Gabriel!" Thor interrupted quickly. "I have a question for Howard!" Gabriel paused and Howard looked elated.

"Fine, make it quick though. I don't know how long we have before they come back." Gabriel said.

Thor approached Howard, who was looking quite excited. "Howard, does Loki… is there any chance that Loki will gain redemption?" Thor asked, finally formulating his question. He tried to ignore the way Loki frowned and turned away.

To Thor's dismay, Howard's face fell at the question. "You… You've read my books?" he asked. Thor merely nodded solemnly. "You haven't read _all_ of my books though." Howard stated. Thor looked at him confusedly.

"What do you mean?" Before Howard could even open his mouth to answer, there were four other angels in the room, all striding towards Gabriel, blades drawn.

"Hand them over, Gabriel." One angel commanded, Gabriel narrowed his eyes and grabbed Loki and Thor's arms. He turned to the others and smirked, despite the situation.

"Thanks for the spell and the snacks. We gotta go!" And with that, the room was gone, replaced by the familiar vertigo and blinding wind. The flight did not last long, however, as soon Thor heard someone give a shout of pain and the vertigo gave way to a sensation of falling.

"Shit, Loki!" Thor heard Gabriel yelp and then they stabilized a bit more. "Hold on, I gotta lose them." Gabriel shouted over the roaring wind. They twisted and turned, suddenly shot upward or fell down and spun for what felt like an eternity before they finally landed, Thor feeling entirely nauseated. He collapsed onto the familiar floor of their base, breathing heavily to keep from being ill.

"Thor, get your ass up, I need your help." Thor distantly heard Gabriel say. He sounded frantic, so after taking another few seconds to get his bearings, Thor was up. The site that met him made his heart stop. Gabriel was covered in blood, light leaking out from a wound in his shoulder and a slight ringing noise permeating the room. Loki was a few feet away and appeared to be unconscious. "Stop gawking Thor!" Gabriel shouted, Thor jerked his eyes back to Gabriel. "Go get him, I need a minute." he said more softly. Thor nodded jerkily and sprinted over to Loki, sliding the rest of the way.

The floor around his brother was slick with blood and Thor turned Loki over to reveal a gaping wound in his chest. "Gabriel!" Thor shouted in alarm, pressing his hands over the wound to staunch the blood. Loki grimaced slightly and tossed his head to the side, but didn't open his eyes. "Gabriel, he's bleeding too much, he's…" he trailed off helplessly, putting his ear to Loki's mouth, making sure he was still breathing. He felt a rush of panic and dread when he didn't feel a rush of air ruffle his hair. Loki's face was entirely too pale, and spidery, deep blue lines were begin to appear on his skin. He was dragged back roughly by Gabriel. "Stop! I need to—"

"Thor, calm down. I'm going to heal him." Gabriel said, placing the palm of his hand over Loki's wound. To Thor's combined wonderment and horror, when Gabriel removed his hand, the wound began knitting itself together and the only thing left was the puncture through his clothing and the sticky, red blood that seemed to be absolutely everywhere. Thor was no stranger to blood and wounds, he'd gotten them, seen his friends get them, but there was too much. Gabriel seemed to read his thoughts and put a comforting, albeit shaky hand on Thor's shoulder. "He's good, he's lost a lot of blood, but he's good." Gabriel breathed. "He should wake up in a few hours, he'll be dizzy, make him eat something." With that, Gabriel collapsed.

* * *

**TBC...**

**(So... Bucky and Steve... Did I write them okay? Lemme know and give me some tips, please! Also, new story, it will kind of be set in the same universe as this story and Steve's going to be the main character. I'm super excited about it. I think I might post it tomorrow or Tuesday, but not on this account. I have an Ao3 account now, which has nothing on it, so that's where it'll be going. It's got my exact same username, so I shouldn't be hard to find.)**


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